Golden Prevalence
by FlightPrevails
Summary: When Sonic dies, everything falls apart, and Tails needs to make sense of things and save everyone. Meanwhille, a 3 faction war begins and 2 teenagers find solace in each other... TailsCream, SonAmy, Knuxrouge. T for violence, chapter 7 GET!
1. Attack, Resist, and Fall

Welcome to my first fanfiction (in a while, at least, some of you may remember me as TurbineEddyPrower.), Golden Prevalence! I'm glad you've decided to check it out, and I hope you'll find your time reading worthwhile. I presume you will! This story has several violent moments and some cussing, so I've given it a rating suitable of such material. If the rating or this warning hasn't turned you off, good! You'll be happy you stuck around!

This story takes place in the Sonic Team, or Sega of Japan canon, disreguarding the Archie canon, the Fleetway canon, and the Sonic X canon, as well as the canons of both (or all 3, considering SU) of the old cartoons. Thought I'd let you know that before you start asking me about that subject. It takes place 8 years after Shadow, meaning, say, Tails would be, eh, around 16 at this point. The ages are 8 years after the ones described in the SA universe, meaning, in terms of the Chaotix characters, at least, I'm using the SA-era material as a launch point, IE: Charmy is 14, not 24. Got that? Awesome! Splendid!

If my disreguard for other, perhaps more popular universes has turned you off, I'm sorry. If it hasn't, by all means, I'm glad you're still sticking around! Here's the boring disclaimer that no one reads:

I own nothing in this story. All of it belongs to SEGA except for the story's scenario, which came from my brain. There's not even an OC in sight in this one, maybe an OOC moment or 2, but all the characters, settings, etc. belong to SEGA and Sonic Team. Thank you, and enjoy the story!

**

* * *

**

**Golden Prevalence**

**Chapter 1: Attack, Resist, And Fall**

_Look. Out there. Upon the mass._

_Station Square is falling._

_The sky's light shines upon the falling buildings, as compared to other areas, it does not._

_The light marks a beacon. It shows the hero where he must go and who he must protect. He shows the heroes where to follow._

Tails's POV (will continue like this for remainder of story):

Fire and ember covered the streets. That's all I knew. That's all I was told. I was told to stay home, that this was too dangerous for anyone but them to handle.

We were left behind. Cream, Cheese, and myself. We weren't allowed to help. We just couldn't fully understand why not. Then we were shown why.

I sat in front of my window, watching in the direction of Station Square. All I could see was smoke. And flame. Lots of flame.

I looked behind me. Cream was consoling her Chao. Apparently, he was really worried about something. I asked her if she needed any help or if she wanted anything, and she told me she had it handled.

I tried turning on the TV to see what was up, and the cable was out. Internet was off as well. I sighed.

"It's okay, Cheese, they'll be back soon. Shh... it's okay. Don't worry..."

The smoke got really bad at that point. I took my shirt (which was still covered in oil because of the repairs I had attempted to pull off on the Tornado IV the night before) and put it over my mouth and nose so I wouldn't inhale that much. Cream had covered her mouth with her dress, and by that time, Cheese had calmed down, and Cream's hand was held over his sleeping mouth to prevent him from inhaling as well.

"I really hope we hear from them soon." she said, breaking the silence.

"Yeah. Hey, at least Cheese is calm. Maybe that's a sign that we don't have to worry, either." I replied.

She smiled slightly. It calmed my nerves when she did. We had begun talking a few years before and we were good friends at that point. I felt really close to her, myself, but that was only because I, well, had a crush on the girl. It wasn't a big one though, and I didn't feel like I loved her in that sense of the word, really.

"Hey, Tails?"

"Yeah?"

"What do you think is going on?"

We stared at each other for a second, unblinking. I paid feverish attention to her at that moment, for a reason I myself didn't understand.

And then...

The cable came back.

We both turned our attention to the TV, which was already turned to the local news affiliate. We saw a panicking reporter standing in the middle of Station Square. He was surrounded by rubble and smoke and fire.

And dead bodies. Hundreds of them. Thousands, even. People were dropping like flies.

The reporter was crying. He couldn't hold himself any longer. Bodies were actually dropping from the sky. People were screaming bloody murder. Many people that were falling were actually still alive when they fell, and they were merely committing suicide in order to escape whatever horror had befallen the city.

Then, the reporter spoke.

"If you're... oh God... just joining us, um... Station Square is gone. Eggman has attacked the city with some kind of... sniff... powerful scorpion robot. I... cannot begin to describe the horror you are seeing. Once our helicopter gets here, we're evacuating from the city... please, God, deliver me from this place... if you need to know what is going on and why Sonic has not helped us yet... dear Jesus... just... watch these tapes... I can't handle it... I'm going to throw up... oh... oh... OH MY GOD! LORD HAVE MERCY! SHADOW THE HEDGEHOG HAS BEEN LAUNCHED HEAD FIRST INTO A HALF-DESTROYED BUILDING! OH MY GOD! OH MY GOD! WHAT DO WE DO NOW? LORD, HELP US! SOMEONE HELP US!"

The screen showed a single video. A grainy, zoomed in couple-second video of Shadow hitting a building.

Then falling to the ground.

Covered in blood.

Shadow was dead.

"SHADOW!" I yelled out of shock.

Cream gasped and continued to watch the screen in absolute horror of what she had just seen.

She began to become frantic.

"What... how... no... what happened to... he can't be...? Tails --- what's going on!"

I began to get frantic myself, but I had to keep calm.

"I don't know... maybe they'll show us."

But no... they kept playing that video. Over and over. Until finally, the reporter came back.

"Okay, we're back... sigh... our helicopter has arrived, and as you can see, we're on it right now, hightailing it out of Station Square. As we have been informed that the cable has been reactivated in most underlying areas of Station County, we can finally show all those who are just joining us the horror that has occurred today. Oh God, I can't even... and it hasn't even stopped yet... our cameraman is setting up for an aerial shot of the city, so you at home can see what Eggman has done."

The aerial shot showed nothing but chaos. Utter destruction. The city was gone. Nothing but fire and rubble remained now. And then... the beast appeared.

The reporter's voice commented in the background. "As you can see, there is a giant scorpion robot, piloted by the vicious murderer Dr. Eggman, attacking the landscape. It's using its massive metal claws to pick up and destroy everything. And it's shooting giant missiles out of its tail. Why has no one destroyed it? Just watch this - warning, the material you are about to see is the honest to God most brutal thing you will ever see in your life. It will probably make you want to kill yourself, as it did me. My advice? Feel free. There's no hope left in this world."

Cream and I looked at each other. We knew what was coming; we just didn't want to see it.

"As you can see on this tape, Sonic the Hedgehog did come and try to save us. He battled the robot for a good, long while. Just watch."

We saw Sonic on screen.

He was obviously in combat with that thing for a while. He was pretty bruised and looked beat.

"EGGMAN, WHAT HAVE YOU DONE!" He screamed at the top of his lungs.

Eggman was shown on screen.

"Why, I've done what I should've done years ago. I've won, my fine friend. I've won."

"You haven't won yet, you son of a bitch. You haven't even come close."

"Oh really, now? EGG SCORPION, ACTIVATE THE DESTROYER!"

Suddenly, a giant claw came out of the ground and grabbed Sonic.

"Let me go, damn it, LET ME GO!"

"Tsk, tsk, tsk... you know better than that, don't you, hedgehog?"

"LET ME DOWN!" Sonic was near tears at that point. He was yelling with fear and not anger.

"PLEASE, LET ME DOWN! DON'T DO THIS!"

Eggman laughed.

"Now."

"NO! PLEASE, DON'T! NO!"

A sharp metal 'shing!' noise was heard. Sonic screamed out in pain.

Eggman held him in the scorpion's grip for a while longer, then threw him down to the ground.

His body laid limp. He was bleeding profusely.

Eggman laughed tremendously. He was... victorious. He then stopped, and smirked.

"Hmph - so that's it, eh? Well then - ATTENTION PEOPLE OF STATION SQUARE. SONIC THE HEDGEHOG IS DEAD. BOW BEFORE YOUR NEW LEADER!"

The reporter came back on.

"Almost every one of our heroes has been killed by that monster. If we had anymore info, we would. All we know is that Knuckles the Echidna and Amy Rose have already escaped, and that neither Cream the Rabbit nor Tails the Fox have been seen on the site. For all we know, those 4 may be alive. Here's hoping they are."

I turned off the TV.

We could only stare at each other in fear.

* * *

Well, that's about it for the first chapter. Thanks for reading! I hope you come back for chapter 2, which I assure you will be up very quickly - reviews or not. 

Though I would love to see some reviews... please?


	2. Remorse

All of you who reviewed: thanks! I really appreciate reading reviews, and it makes the entire story writing process even more worthwhile! I've got a couple of issues to address and then we can get further into the story:

First off, the neglect of characters and detail. The first 2 chapters aren't my best. Let's just put it that way. Chapter 1, and futhermore, Chapter 2 aren't the stories highlights. They introduce the characters and scenario, really, they aren't effective as part of the story, however. Chapter 2 is better than Chapter 1, IMO, but still, Chapter 3 will show what this story is, so reserve your final judgement. Chapter 1 was more of a "This is what's going on, this is who's not here" chapter, whereas chapter 3, its follow-up, is more of a "this is what happened, this is why they're gone", and will detail the events of chapter 1 much better in a way that has the perspectives of character(s?) that were there and characters that weren't.Chapter 2 introduces what I see the main characters as, whereas chapter 4, its follow-up, will be a more fitting expose into this story's main characters: note to reader, this means that Tails and Cream aren't the only main characters in this story. As I mentioned in chapter 1, Knuckles and Amy escaped. Wether they'll both make it back alive remains to be seen. That'll be in chapter 3. as will be a more in-depth look at the deaths of some fan-favorite characters... such as Charmy (wink wink nudge nudge).

Secondly, this story's double-life. I have to address the issue of this story's placement on the Sonic fansite Concept Mobius's forums. That was, of course, my doing. You see, my username on there is Lord Turbine, and my former username on here was TurbineEddyPrower. Same person, right? Indeed. My e-mail and IP address is the same. Just so you know, Concept Mobius members: no need to report anyone.

Thirdly... the characters in this story belong to SEGA. The scenario in this story belongs to me. Thank you.

So, onto the story!

* * *

**Golden Prevalence**

**Chapter 2: Remorse**

At that moment, Cream completely broke down. She began to cry… which was her normal way of expressing herself in times of slight hardship, however, this time she was crying harder than normal.

"No..." she cried, "No... Mr. Sonic can't be dead... he just can't be!" She started crying even harder then.

I wanted to tell her it was going to be okay. I wanted to calm her down. But I couldn't.

Sonic was dead.

She held onto Cheese, who was still fast asleep, oblivious to what we had seen. Cream then suddenly gasped.

"No..."

I couldn't help but wonder what was wrong.

"What…?"

"My... my mom... she was in Station Square today... that's why I came over here..."

The realization just hit me, and obviously, her as well. Cream's mom may have died, too.

"Mom... no... no... please, not you..." Her head tilted downwards and she collapsed into herself, crying harder than ever.

"No! Everyone I - no! Please, no!"

I felt horrible as I watched her crying. I couldn't comfort her. I felt slightly sick inside seeing her like that. It was like the reporter said. Was there hope left?

I tried to speak.

"C-Cream... please... it's..."

But then I broke down. I began to cry as well. I felt ashamed of it, really... but I had to. I couldn't hold it in.

Sonic, Shadow, Vector, Charmy, Espio, possibly even Knuckles and Amy were all dead! What was I, what were we, going to do at that point? I was only 16 at the time. The very thought of death was daunting, not to mention the fact that the very ones who had supported me all these years were now gone… first my parents… and now my surrogate parents.

So I cried.

But she stopped. I felt her looking at me. I turned around and my suspicions were proven. I tried to stop crying myself. I didn't want to seem like I had given up hope.

She sighed.

"T-tails?"

"Yeah?"

She looked up at me.

"What are we gonna do?"

"I don't know... but..."

Now I started to try to contain myself. I had to. She needed me, and I felt -- like I had an obligation to help her.

"But whatever we do... it's gonna be okay."

I sighed.

"I'll make sure of it."

She sniffed.

"Really?"

"Yeah, Cream. It's gonna be okay."

She smiled, and I got that good feeling, that reassuring feeling again.

And all the while the Chao slept, smiling as he did.

* * *

As you can tell by chapter 2's swift appearance, I hate making readers wait... I've had way too many other authors do that to me on here that I'd be a hypocrite not to update ASAP. 

So chapter 3 will be up soon! Thanks for reading, and please, even if you're anonymous, please review.


	3. Private Thoughts

Alright! I'm sorry I haven't updated in a little bit! I've been scheduled for work a lot this week. Let's get the concerns out of the way first.

First off, this chapter is not what I said it would be. It's straying from what I've been doing in the story so far. I was going to do this later, but I thought it would be a cool little thing to add on, for all you blue hedgehog fans in the audience who are sad to see him dead. It's an interesting thing, and it's a bit… well… short, but keep in mind it's in the POV of who it winds up to be. You'll see.

Second off, the summary now has spoilers in it. Sorry to those who didn't read chapter 1 before they read the new summary. But it only says 4 heroes, though, meaning there aren't really spoilers or anyone who's already read into the story thus far. Wink wink nudge nudge.

Third off, next chapter marks the return to the main story and the announcement of exactly who those 4 heroes are.

Fourth off: SEGA owns Sonic. There.

Fifth off: You ready? It's GP Chapter 3, Private Thoughts. Have a nice read, I'll meet you at the bottom!

* * *

**Golden Prevalence**

**Chapter 3: Private Thoughts**

-Unknown POV-

I don't know where this place is. I know I don't like it, and I know I don't feel like I'm supposed to be here… but that's about it. I don't know where it is, what it is, and how I came upon it.

Nothing but a winding road and, I'm not shitting you, my memories playing all around me. I don't know if I'm alive or dead, but I'm goddamn sure that I'm dead and buried. I can't believe I found a journal and a pencil in the middle in the road though. That's really strange. However, it does alleviate some of the… hmm… let's think of a Tails-esque word for this feeling… I'm bad at that… damn… ah! It does alleviate some of the irkiness of this place. Is that a word? I think I heard him use that once or twice.

If I am dead… shit, I wonder what he's gonna do.

For that matter, who the Hell am I? Let's just discuss that. I can see what I was, but I can't see who I was. Horrible, right?

Oh, wait, now I remember. This is really weird, that's for sure.

As I look at my own memories, I realize I must be dead, because I keep feeling there's something I left behind. Unfinished business.

A name just came to my mind. Who's Amy… and why do I feel she matters so much?

Maybe I need to watch the memories a bit.

Nope. More of me hitting some fat guy flying around in a robot. That doesn't help at all.

Why does this Amy matter, and why does thinking of him/her/it… hurt so much? It's not a physical pain as more of a 'why did I leave this person, they need me right now' sort of pain. Hell, I don't even know what gender Amy was, let alone what he/she/it looked like, and again, why they mattered.

The memories aren't helping. Why the fuck are they in the sky and not in my head? Someone please tell me that.

Am I expected to keep walking down this road? The only people I remember at the moment are myself and Tails. Other than that, glimpses of this Amy person come to mind, and no one else is mentioned. My head is completely blank, man.

Why am I asking a journal these questions? Because there's no one else here?

Ah, more memories… I see that Amy person now… she's a girl… so that's important? She just followed me around! She looks like a little schoolgirl!

No way could she mean that much that it hurts to try and remember her…

Wait… more memories…

Some island with some birds on it… those birds seem really annoying… hmm… some brief thing about some little girl named Tiara Boobowski or something… ah… that seems more recent…

Oh.

I remember now.

Shit.

Amy… I'm….

I have to watch the… mistake I made, I…

I remember now…

Amy… I promised…

Oh shit, I'm crying now? Good God.

Amy…. I'm sorry…

Guess I better get walking now. Maybe I should think of something to sing while I walk… hmm…. I got one!

"Show me the way to go home!" Clap clap! "I'm tired and I want to go to bed!" EVERYBODY!

Yeah. That'll cheer me up… it always cheered her up… when she was drunk… the memories are coming back… man it feels good to have a sense of myself again.

I know who I am now… my name is Sonic. My life was cut short by an idiot.

And my girlfriend was…

I'll stop writing now. I'll update later.

-end Sonic's POV-

-end chapter-

* * *

So? How was that? You like? Enough to review? Please do! Go ahead and tell me if you didn't like that chapter or the style it was in, and if you did like it, tell me that too.

Bonus: if someone sends a review with the rest of the lyrics to Sonic's walking song, I'll give you a cookie next chapter.

Chapter 4's coming before September 1st. Have a nice wait! Once again, please review. I like reviews, and I most often reply!


	4. Finding Answers

Alright, welcome to Chapter 4 of Golden Prevalence. As most every reviewer (and every reviewer that came after 8/14) knows, I like replying to my reviewers. So I don't need to address you guys's questions and concerns here, as I already did by means of replying.

I must say that I'm happy about last chapter's reception. No one seemed to have a problem with it, and it confused a couple of people, but I expected that. I most probably will expand upon the Sonic side of the story, but not too much: the main story has a lot of places to go anyway.

Anyway, this chapter is going to be long, and it's going to encompass 4 acts: Exit Scorpion, Reminisce, Enter Tails, and Survivors. The act format allows me to have a chapter focus on more than one event, and it makes for much longer chapters. I hope for this chapter to be the longest yet, and I want this chapter to sort of set the tone for what I've got planned.

One more thing: SEGA owns Sonic. The characters, the games, the settings, etc. I don't. I own this story's scenario. Disclaimers are boring.

ENJOY THE READ, I'LL MEET YOU AT THE BOTTOM!

**  
Golden Prevalence**

Chapter 4: Finding Answers

Act I: Exit Scorpion  


I heard a sound overhead.

It was the first good thing either of us had heard all day.

That murderous creature had finally exited Station Square.

**Tails's POV**

It was a bit bruised as we saw on TV, the Egg SCORPION robot.

**Eggman's POV**

"Manual hub, activate."

**Tails's POV**

I thought that he was taking it to the lab. I hoped that it would remain there in forever disrepair.

**Eggman's POV**

"Project GOPHEr, open hub center 2-1-9-0-2."  
**  
Tails's POV**

I doubted he'd be able to make another attack on us with that thing. Thank God - I couldn't fight it, and Cream... well... If I couldn't, then she definitely couldn't...

**Eggman's POV**

"Activate delivery channels B and D, GOPHEr."

"Project GOPHEr prepared for launch, Master Robotnik."

"Excellent, heh, excellent! Now then: launch beta ii, GOPHEr."

"Channel D still open: need delivery.""Yes, yes - deliver me the Chapter 9 Support System. Make sure it's with beta ii at all times."

"Yes sir, Master Robotnik."

"Excellent. Those stupid anthromorphs have no chance of surviving - especially since I killed Sonic. OOH, THAT FEELS SO GOOD TO SAY!"

"You killed Sonic."

"Yes, GOPHEr."

"I'll setup the balloons and punch."

"Good boy."

**end Eggman's POV**

**Act II: Reminisce**

The roaring of the SCORPION'S engines was so loud that it woke the seemingly paralyzed Cheese from his nap. He gazed up a Cream's face, looking incredibly confused by the sound. That Chao was the only person I knew that hadn't changed over the years. That was all that was on my mind at the minute. Sonic had matured, as well as Amy, Shadow had become more sure of himself as a whole and began to live life as a living being and not "The Ultimate Lifeform," Knuckles had started acting even more like an adult but had developed a wild side, surprisingly, but only showed it to a couple of people, Rouge had stopped being a thief and actually got a job for the government - as a thief. A spy, really, but all she did was steal documents, artifacts, and other assorted things that she couldn't talk about. When I thought about her, I realized that she was one of the people that the newscast didn't mention, and I hadn't really thought about her up until this sort of reminiscent moment that I was having. Maybe she didn't die... in fact, I didn't really know who was dead. I mean, I knew for sure Sonic and Shadow were dead, and I knew that Amy and Knuckles had supposedly escaped, but other than that, the newscast was so rushed that they didn't really mention what had happened.

I dismissed that thought and continued to reminisce about all that had happened the years after we fought Devil Doom. Sonic and Amy had actually started dating, and though he didn't tell anyone, Cream told me she was sure she saw an engagement ring on Amy's finger about a month earlier, but we dismissed it, until, sure enough, three weeks before his death, Sonic told us that they were getting married. I burst out laughing the minute I heard "Amy and I are engaged." come out of his mouth. Obviously, Cream and I had changed a lot - we got older, that's what happens. I became a lot more independent from everyone else, and Cream's personality changed dramatically - for the better. In fact, the only one who hadn't changed for the better was Charmy - he had become a useless prick who was only around to make trouble. He was no longer a bee, or a wasp for that matter, but a lowly mosquito, who sucked on others' emotions to feed himself. He was a bully, a slob, and a nuisance, and at the time, when I thought he may be dead, I thought immediately after that he deserved it. It's not like he could have helped much at the battle, anyway. Knowing Sonic's tactics, he wanted to hide until he spotted the SCORPION's weakness, then attack first by himself, leaving everyone else out of harm's way until the SCORPION was weak enough for them to come in and backup. Probably what wound up happening is while Sonic was initiating his plan, Charmy, being the idiot that he had become, provoked the robot and left Sonic and the others spotted, causing everyone to go into battle at the wrong time, thus... the deaths.

I continued to think to myself until Cream sighed. I immediately looked up to see if there was anything wrong, as the day seemed to be following Murphy's Law to the tee.

"Hmm?"

"Nothing... I'm just trying to get Cheese back to sleep, that's all. He's a bit jumpy right now, and I'm definitely not in the mood to play with him."

That told me something was wrong, and she wasn't really telling me what. I presumed it was what had happened, of course, but that wasn't it - she was worried about something else. She _always_ wanted to play with Cheese, even when he didn't want to play with her.

"You sure nothing's wrong?"

"...well..."

"What happened today?"

"Yeah... kind of..."

"Hmm? What do you mean?"

"N-nothing... I wonder if Knuckles and Amy made it out okay..."

It then occurred to me that she was right - we still had no idea of their whereabouts.

"I guess that's what's wrong then."

"Hmm?" "Yeah - confusion. It can really mess up a person's thoughts."

She smiled.

"Yeah. I guess I'm feeling the way I am because I'm asking too many questions."

"Questions?"

We looked at each other again... one of those moments... there seemed to be a lot of those today.

My face lit up - I had an idea. "Then I guess we should go find some answers, right?"

She gasped and looked up at me, startled.

"What do you mean, Tails?"

"We have to go into Station Square and, first and foremost, find Sonic's body, and see if there was anything he left behind."

"What? That's crazy!"

"Not really - we have to get his body back here anyway, so we can give it a proper send off."

"But that's... disgusting! I don't want to carry his body!"

"I will... but we have to get his body over here before it gets even worse. Plus - we may find something important, we may even see Knuckles and Amy!"

"But -"

"Are you with me or not? I'll go alone if I have to."

"No... I'll come with you... you sure about this, though?"

I smiled, assuringly. "Am I ever not?"

Her face lit up at that remark. Her facial expressions were always so to-the-point, so... mesmerizing, in a way... maybe it was just me.

"Then let's go!" 

"Right... to Station Square."

**Act III: Enter Tails**

I don't know where we were, exactly. I knew it was Station Square. But I didn't know what the Hell it had become. Dead bodies and ruins everywhere. The cries of other survivors surrounded us. Cheese wanted to go after them, screaming "Chao chao!" and pointing in the direction of the moans and the screams. Cream kept trying to calm him down, but she wanted to go, too.

"Tails... can we at least get a couple survivors out of here? Please Tails?"

I sighed. "Cream... we have to get Sonic. Whenever we make contact with Knuckles and Amy, I'm sure we'll form some sort of full-on search party, and we'll get the other bodies and get some survivors out of here."

"Okay... that works better."

"Chao chao."

I looked up at the flailing Chao. It still hadn't left Cream's side all these years, and yet Cream had become independent enough to leave home without him at times when he wanted or needed to stay home. I kept looking.

"I wish I could get the ACIDFiX back," I said, "really hard doing this without going airborne."

"The Tornado -- I mean, ACIDFiX -- has been out of the picture for a long time now, hasn't it?"

"Yeah, ever since I brought Knuckles to Cocoa Island to find Mighty... can't believe the Battle Kukku came back..."

"They... killed your parents, r-right?"

This subject always struck a bad cord with me. Back before I met Sonic, I lived a good life on Cocoa Island with my parents... until the Battle Kukku came. (AN: yes, I'm sticking to canon: this Japanese story of Tails' Adventure... I'm just adding his parents to it.) The Battle Kukku army was sent by their dictator to find the Chaos Emeralds that for some reason were on Cocoa Island and not on Angel Island. I went out to destroy the army utilizing the force of my miniature army of advanced vehicles, and to collect the emeralds in the process. I came back to find my house torn apart... and my parents dead. I packed up all I could and left Cocoa Island for good... until Mighty sent a distress message to Knuckles. He still considered himself leader of the Chaotix, so he got Vector and Espio and asked me to get them to Cocoa. Of course, I asked about Charmy, and he didn't want to go - he had "better things to do," AKA, more slobbing around. He didn't know the way, but I _did_, and I had the plane. So I flew them over to the coordinates that Mighty gave Knuckles, and as I was dropping them off, a strange-looking bird bombed the plane.

I knew what that was: it was a Kukku soldier. I wanted to help despite what had happened in the past, but Knuckles refused, and said to come back for them when they sent the message. However, they hijacked a Kukku GRUPFLY, a giant machine powered by the flapping of the wings of multiple Kukku soldiers (AN: made-up; the Tails' Adventure story was a very simple one, and allows room for expansion.) and piloted it home. They had to leave the ACIDFiX wreckage behind, and because that plane was so advanced, I couldn't even come close to replicating it: it was a combination of the Tornadoes I-III and the Tornado FIXOuR, a major rehash of the first three that I made shortly after Sonic's adventures in Soleanna. It was so powerful that I codenamed it the Hurricane, as its engines were as powerful as a level 1 hurricane. The FIXOuR was a mere Monsoon. The ACID series planes are what I had been building up to all these years.

But I tried replicating it anyway. And it didn't work. That was a while back. About 3 years before all this happened. Over that time, I had practiced my own primal skills. I had been doing inventing in my spare time, yes, but not as feverishly as before. I had developed a lot of muscle tone, and my strength was assuredly equal to that of Sonic. My tails had especially grown, and were at the point where they could be well-viable as weapons. I had developed the ability to grab an enemy in one or both of my tails and throw said enemy about 20 feet away at about... I'd say a good 5 miles per hour at that time. My flying skills had become as good as they were when I first met Sonic, before I used planes, maybe even better. The fact that my helicopter blade-esque tails would be of use to me hadn't crossed my mind at the time... I never got a chance to really use them in the field, even though flying had once again become my major mode of transportation, as it should have been.

"Y-yeah... they did... that's why I wanted to help Knuckles and the others fight back... for my island..."

"I've never really heard that story fully - what happened anyway?"

"I'll tell you some other time... l-let's just... let's just find Sonic."

"Right - I'm sorry."

"No, it's okay - I just... don't like talking about that really."

Her face saddened. "I... know what you mean..."

That just reminded me... Cream was in the same situation I was. No one knew who or where her dad was, as the official explanation from Cream's mom was that Cream's father was nothing more than a mere donor and could be anywhere or anyone... this has troubled Cream since her mom told her at 11. And now, as far as we knew, her mom was dead. And looking around this desolate wasteland, we were probably assuming right.

"...i-it'll be okay Cream... I mean, i-if she did... well... she's in a better place, right?"

She nodded. "A much better place than here, at least..."

I nodded back. "I think I'd rather be dead."

She gulped. "Let's just... find Sonic."

"Yeah. I'm gonna go airborne - flying's a heck of a lot better than walking."

She giggled, quietly, "Couldn't agree with you more."

I took off. Her flying skills had progressed at about the same rate as mine had - she had become a great aspect to our team now, really, matching Amy's strength.

It didn't take much of a search. We flew through the wreckage, through the smoke and flame - it hadn't become too bad yet - the big buildings had yet to...

And then we saw it. A clearing in the wreckage. Dead center. That's where the battle was.

And that's where Sonic's body was. We landed. We were left staring at his dead body for about 10 minutes, unmoving. Cheese tried waking him up to no end, until he realized what had happened - he hid inside of Cream's arms, I presumed trying to hide from what he had realized was nothing but a corpse, in which Sonic no longer took up residence. That's how I regarded it, at least: that body, that _thing_ wasn't Sonic: it was just a corpse. Sonic himself had moved onto, as I told Cream, the same plane of existence that Shadow was on, that everyone that had died that day was on, that my parents were on, and that her mom was on. At that point she had no hope left for her mom - she pretty much accepted the fact that she was dead, and I didn't really expect nor want that from her - I couldn't see someone like her, someone so positive, give up hope so easily.

We found three things in the clearing: Sonic's corpse, a big piece of scrap metal that said "RPION I" on it... and a camera. With the battery light blinking. I took Sonic's body, and, due to Cheese's prodding, Cream took the camera. And we left for home. From a bit after we landed until we got back to the Workshop, we didn't talk to each other at all.

She spoke first. "T-tails?"

"Yeah?"

"I hate silence."

I chuckled, "Me too... you have that camera with you, right?"

"Of course! Cheese wouldn't have let me put it down!"

"Figures... is that battery light still blinking?"

"Hmm... yeah. It's red now, not orange... meaning we don't have much time to get that tape out, right?"

"Exactly - I need to go find my... I can't believe I'm saying this... VCR..."

She opened the camera.

"No you don't."

"What, it's DVD?"

"Nope."

"What is it then? Don't tell me Laserdisc, my Laserdisc player is broken."

"Even more obscure - it's Super Video Disc!"

"SVCD? Wow! I've got a VCD-playing emulator running on the computer upstairs, c'mon!"

We headed upstairs to watch that video... but I had one last question - where did that camera come from?

Luckily, the video would turn out to have more answers than not.

**Act IV: Survivors  
**

We struggled with the camera's latch. Turns out, you open it once, it won't open again. We kept trying.

**Knuckles's POV**

"Alright, I have no idea where I am, but I'm sure I'll find the way to his workshop..."

**Tails's POV**

"Oh c'mon, OPEN UP!"

"Tails, maybe we should wait until Knuckles and Amy show up."

**Knuckles's POV**

"Not too much farther now, I'm sure of it."

"Knuckles, I can't do this much longer..."

"Then maybe you should've told us about _that_ earlier, Amy, like during the fucking battle!"

"Knuckles, stop it, you're not helping!"

"Alright, fine - but we need to get out of here."

**Tails's POV**

"It still won't open!"

"Tails, wait! Did you hear that?"

"What?"

I heard something then. A knocking, some type of rumbling... someone or something was moving under the workshop...

**Knuckles's POV**

"I smell metal - we're here."

"Where's the hatch!"

"I'm still looking for that, hang on."

**Tails's POV**

"That _must_ be them, Tails, I'm sure of it!"

"Then let's go open the hatch!"

She nodded. "Right!"

"I'm gonna need some help, you --"

"Yeah, I know - I can handle it."

I smiled. "Awesome."

We ran downstairs.

**Knuckles's POV**

"What is knocking on the metal going to do!"

"How the Hell else am I going to find the hatch, Amy? Fucking ESP!"

"Hey, there's no need for that, Knux, cut it out."

"Just shut up, will you! I don't know how Sonic put up with you! He _slept_ with you, for God's sake, how the Hell could he stand it?"

"Grrrrr! I'm going to slap you so hard when we get in there!"

Two more knocks...

"THERE! I GOT IT!"

"Ugh, finally!"

**Tails's POV**

"Push!"

"I got it!"

"I hear them knocking!"

**Knuckles's POV**

"Open the god damned door, Tails!"

**Tails's POV**

"Alright, two more clicks, then we pull up, right?"

"Right!"

Open the god damned door Tails!

"KNUCKLES!"

"We're trying as hard as we can, right Cream?"

"Right!"

**Knuckles's POV**

"COME ON!"

**Amy's POV**

"Get me out of here!"

**Cream's POV**

"Tails, the clicks!"

**Tails's POV**

"Alright, pull!"

**Cream's POV**

"TAILS!"

**Amy's POV**

"TAILS!"

**Knuckles's POV**

"DAMN IT TAILS!"

**Tails's POV**

"Arggghhhhh...! 3..."

"TAILS!"

"TAILS!"

"DAMN IT TAILS!"

'C'mon, Prower, you got this...'

"2..."

"ALMOST..."

"TAILS, HURRY UP!"

"TAAAAAAAIIIIIIILLLLLLLLLSSSSSSSSSSS!"

"1... **NOW! PULL UP!"**

And then we pulled up. And out popped...

"Knuckles!" I shouted.

"Amy!" Cream did the same.

"Damn it, Tails, what took you so long?" Knuckles exaggerated.

"Hey, leave them alone! They're not as strong as you, you know!" Amy argued.

"That doesn't mean they have to leave me down there any longer!"

"Uh... you guys, uh.."

"QUIET FOR A SECOND!"

"Thanks, Tails."

"No problem - even Cheese was getting annoyed, huh?"

"Yeah..." Cream looked over at the Chao, who was flying around covering his ears.

I smiled. Then I turned over to Knuckles and Amy.

"You two - quiet down for a second. I have to tel-"

"WAIT, WHERE'S SONIC!" Amy yelled with glee.

"Oh, tell me he's hiding, I love when he does this! SONIC! COME OUT OF HIDING, YOU SNEAKY RAT, I'M HOME!" She giggled and ran off towards the back of the house, Sonic's frequent hiding spot.

Knuckles looked in the direction she went. "Here's hoping Sonic doesn't actually marry her - he'll be stuck with her... ugh..."

Cream and I both rolled our eyes.

"But seriously - where is Sonic?"

Cream and I just looked at each other, silently.

"Did he make it back, er what? I'm sure he did, he was kicking ass when he told me to get Amy out of there."

_I couldn't...  
_   
"Where is he, Tails?"

_She couldn't..._

"Cream... do you know where she is?"

_She had her hands behind her back, crossed, her head facing down... she looked so... innocent... and yet... we were hiding this from him..._

"Oh, Sonic, I'm tired of looking, come out!"

_From her..._

"Wait..."

_And then..._

"He never made it back, did he... what happened to him... ?"

"Sonic's..." I started.

"...dead." Cream finished.

Knuckles stared at us, eyes wide open.

"H-his body's in a freezer, downstairs. Until we can bury him..."

"Oh God... oh my God... what in the name of... he fucking died?"

"W-we s-s-saw it on th-the n-news, Knuckles." Cream struggled.

"Oh-oh my God. You already got his body?"

I nodded.

"Holy crap... Tails, Cream - oh fucking shit...S-sonic's... d-dead... ?"

"Yeah."

"Holy shit... oh my God... his body's in a fucking cooler, man?"

"Y-yeah..."

"OH my God... OH MY GOD... Sonic's dead!"

"Yes."

"AND YOU ALREADY GOT HIS BODY!"

"Yeah."

"Di-did he leave anything behind?"

"W-well... we found this camera."

Cream showed him the still-unopened camera.

"That's the camera he knocked off the face of the SCOPRION - he did that as I left with Amy."

"Why did he have you leave with Amy, anyway?"

"Well, I didn't know either, until Amy told me something a bit _interesting_ on the way home..."

"What did he tell you?"

"I... I'll... tell you later... you got that video out?"

I spoke up, "Well, we opened it once. It's an SVCD. I've got a player for that, sure, but we can't get it open again."

"Allow me."

Knuckles grabbed the camera and punched the latch - it opened without a hitch.

"There you go - now let's watch this thing."

"Wait!" Cream interjected, "What about-"

We all looked toward the door to the left.

"Amy..."

"No, really, Sonikku, this isn't funny - I was looking forward to seeing you after traveling underground all the way from Station Square." She made one of her patented Fujikko-character-style sad faces that Sonic found cute. I found them rather exaggerated.

"Guys, where's Sonic."

Knuckles nearly vomited because of the guilt. "Oh good God I'm gonna throw up... Jesus Christ..."

"Knuckles, get back in here... Amy... I wish I could tell you exactly what happened... but then I'd feel like an asshole for the rest of my life. I prefer telling the truth... but maybe the video will give us some answers."

"The video?" Amy asked.

"Oh God, the video... ugh..." Knuckles struggled.

"The video!" Cream replied.

"Yeah, the video... we found this... in Station Square..."

"You went to Station Square?" Amy and Knuckles asked simultaneously.

"Knuckles, obviously; Amy, yes."

"O...kay... what's this have to do with Sonic?"

Knuckles finally broke.

"That better have been in the trash can, I just vacuumed the whole place on Wednesday." 

"Vacuum? What are you, gay?" He vomited again after saying this.

I sighed. Knuckles came back in.

"Alright... play the video."

"Yeah, Tails... I can't stand this anymore..."

"I'm confused..."

"Alright, everyone, if you'd turn your attention to the screen, I think we can get this thing going."

"Tails, wait: it's going to show the battle. Fast-forward through that to see if there's anything actually important on that disc."

"Right."

So I put it in, and sure enough, it started replaying the battle. I fast-forwarded up until the point where the camera hit the ground. It was cabley for a while and then...

Sonic's face. Bruised and beat.

This was his final message.

**tape**

coughing  
static  
Sonic's hands come up, hit camera. Image appears.

"Ugh... does this thing still work?"

static

"If it does... and anyone can hear me..."

Sonic's voice is struggling

"I'm about to die... probably of loss of blood. Anyway... if anyone can hear me... ugh... this message is for Amy... my fiancée as of... 4 weeks now... cough. Amy... I love you. I'm sorry I have to leave you so early... especially now..."

Sonic is beginning to cry, but is even having a hard time doing that

"Amy... I want... take care of... the kid, Amy. Tell him why I'm not around... I..."

"Shit... I'm not going to be able to do this much longer..."

Eggman's declaration of Sonic's death is heard booming in the background

"Amy... take care of the kid... I... I love you, Ames... I'm gonna miss you... oh fuck, what a clichéd way to die... bye... I'll see you on the other side, all... man, this hurts..."

beeping is heard. camera suddenly shuts off.

**end tape**

We all stared at the screen for about 3 minutes. Then Amy burst out crying.

"SONIKKU!"

"H-he's... dead, Amy..."

"NO! NO, DON'T TELL ME THAT KNUCKLES, PLEASE!"

"We... already got his body, Amy..."

"NO! SONIC'S NOT DEAD, HE CAN'T BE, NOT NOW!"

"Excuse me?"

We all turned our attention to Cream.

"I'm sorry to do this, but... what did he mean by... 'the kid?'"

Amy gasped a little. We all looked over at her.

"N-nothing, he..."

"Amy, don't even - that's what I was talking about, you two."

"What do you mean, Knuckles."

"That surprise. Seems Sonic and Amy 'forgot' to tell us something just like they 'forgot' to tell us about their engagement."

"What are you... ?"

Knuckles took a deep breath.

He put a rather serious look on his face.

He looked at us both with a look of respect... it was... odd...

He sighed.

He took a pause.

He sighed again.

"Well..."

"Amy's pregnant."

**end chapter**

Well, I just heard the collective gasp there. How was that for an ending, huh? And I wanted to have a kick ass buildup and all that, and I think I accomplished it. It could've been something even more unpredictable, because I'm figuring a lot of stories use that Amy's pregnant angle, however, this is the direction I want to go with this story... plus, I'm not going to focus on it much... the main character in this story is Tails, after all - there _is_ a reason why the story's called _Golden_ Prevalence. 

Review, and as always, I'll reward you with a reply. Chapter 5 will come as shortly as this one did, hopefully - especially since I quit at work. The next chapter? Search Party. I hope you're looking forward to it!**  
**

****


	5. Search Party

You know, I would do a better intro... but Chapter 5 (Search Party) is more of a continuation of Chapter 4 (Finding Answers)... so...

Plus, I have nothing to say, really. I'm glad I got all the reviews I did, and I hope to get even more! Really, guys, I appreciate it... sad to see that I'm getting more reviews, however, than a story which is much better than mine will ever be, in my opinion. It's called Sympathy by LadyLullaby436, and it's absolutely superb! When you're done reading/reviewing here, I urge you to check that out, too - it's excellent!

Anyway... hmmm... nothing. I own nothing but the plot!

OH! And a warning: the act system continues, but this time I'll be hopping from point to point a lot. And for those of you wondering: Act II serves as a continuation to the events of chapter 3. Sonic's travels continue on, and he runs into a certain other... it was a last minute decision, really. I was gonna do it in chapter 7, but I had a whole act to use here, as this chapter was originally only 3 acts long. Act II was certainly fun to write, and I like it's title. Don't you? I think "Too Black, Too Strong" fits it perfectly. As does the way I use the quote in the act.

Hmm... more to say... seems as I write this chapter, I find that there's more to talk about... there's a moment in this chapter, smack dab near the end of act 1, that may seem like an M rated moment... I'm sorry for that. I needed that. And if I do anything that vividly horrid again, I _will_ change the rating. But other than that moment, I'm going to try and keep to T-rated material... a strong T, if you will, a T-15+...

ANOTHER THING! This chapter contains a lot of references to the games... as you can tell by referencing Tails Adventure last chapter, I know the Sonic game stories in-and-out, and will be referencing the game world a lot as this story retains to canon 100, and though I add to canon and introduce my own elements, such as adding in a psuedo-origin story for Sonic, I won't be straying from it. Game canon only, at all times. The bad thing is, that will lead to me referencing obscure Sonic facts to make it seem more real. For example, near the beginning of the story, there's a reference to how Vector was created as the "DJ" to the sound test that was to exist in Sonic 1, but due to schedule restraints was replaced by the game's opening "SEGA!" chant, which took up 1/8 of the game's original cartridges. I am going to be referencing the games' soundtracks a lot, and the way the characters see the soundtracks is that every time one of them goes on an adventure, they take a Walkman/iPod with them and listen to the soundtrack. It's cheesy, but it's the only logical way to explain how the characters have heard the soundtracks. Speaking of soundtracks, I must thank Hideki Naganuma, without whom I believe this chapter wouldn't be possible. This chapter was entirely based off of the Sonic Rush soundtrack, especially the song "Wrapped in Black," at much annoyance to my brother, who hates the song with every fiber of his being. Also, if you're wondering why I call Cream's mom "Vanilla" in this chapter even though they've only officially used that in Sonic X, the name was made official games canon after being mentioned on the Japanese Sonic Central website.

One last thing... I've decided to make Great Battle Kukku the 15th and the Battle Kukku Army semi-integral to the story, so if you know very little of the characters, or don't know about them at all... look them up. Mainly, look up what Great Battle Kukku the 15th looks like, and then imagine him with a French moustache and a long beard, and half robot. In fact, I suggest you look up a lot about Tails Adventure(s), because I'll be referencing it at several points... in fact, maybe I should write a fleshed-out origin story... no. That can wait until after I make a name for this story... I'm going to finish this, work on its sequel (yes, there's going to be a sequel, only because it takes place about 3 years later and has a totally different plot point, yet still related), then maybe I'll get to work on his origin story, a bulked-up version of the Japanese story to Tails Adventures... yes. That's what I'll do.

On the delay... I like updating, and I like updating frequently... but I like having the chance to fully flesh-out these chapters. So I'd say once a week, or once every week and a half, you'll find a new chapter waiting for you... plus, this chapter is 10,000 words long... 10,104 to be exact... ouch.

Well, enough musings, you read the disclaimer, now... enjoy, everyone! Be sure to protect your soul codes! (worst rumor ever... kill Knuckles? What the fark?)

* * *

**Golden Prevalence**

_"Debris fell from the sky. Then people fell from the sky. Absolute fucking_

**Chapter 5:**

_madness. My only choice was to run. Run or hide like a fucking dog. So I ran. Sonic flew overhead, commencing the _

**Search**

_search for the thing's weakpoint. We had no idea what it was. Charmy exposed us and was killed on spot. Sonic told us to run for cover, to split the  
_

**Party**

_party up. My heart rate had exploded to previously unknown levels. Amy was already hidden, and everyone capable of fighting was doing so. I was ever more thankful by the minute that we didn't bring you two along. That would have been an_

**Act I:**

_act of absolute stupidity. Sonic's plan was good, it would've worked if it weren't for that fucking neurotic wasp. In fact, I don't know why we brought him along... oh wait, because Vector insisted, that's why - he was always rather stubborn, especially when he argues over him being the creator of the soundtrack that Sonic listened to while he first fought Eggman... heh. While I ran, I saw Sonic fighting. I don't know why he didn't tell me to fight as he had the remaining members of the Chaotix and Shadow... Rouge, on the other hand, made her appearance at the battle scene and forced Sonic to let her fight... whereas I got tired of running. Shadow yelled at me concerning the subject, threw me a gun, and shouted, 'Blasted echidna, take the weapon and kill that thing - we can't do it alone, damn it! That faker needs to stop being so naive and let _me _think of a solution, daresay, I am better than he will ever be! This is the last stand, echidna - fight or die!'"_

**Last Stand, Fight or Die **

"Yeah... Sonic just yelled at me to stay hidden... but he also told me something about a last stand. He said to get out of our hideout as quickly as possible and find a new one... 'This is going to be one Hell of a day, Amy... get ready for that...'" Amy interruped my story.. typical of her.

"Amy, let me finish, I was building up to the good part."

"If you'd be a bit more descriptive, Knuckles, I'm sure your flashback wouldn't be so boring and, well, horrible to listen to," Tails piped in, "you sound like a 9 year old talking about his day at Twinkle Park on his shoddily crafted website." What is he, a tutor?

"Fine Tails, if you want visuals of bloody battlegrounds then you'll get them."

"Actually, I'd prefer not..." Cream mumbled. I ignored her almost everytime she spoke, she was so quiet and polite that no one really cared what she said other than Amy, maybe even Sonic and Tails. She, however, had evolved from her post-Devil Doom self. She was actually a lot of help on the battlefield, and had gained a personality not too unlike Tails's: smart and opinonated. However, she was still a very quiet person, and didn't like talking too much, which annoyed the Hell out of me, because to me, if a person doesn't speak up, they don't need to be heard.

"You must be joking, Knuckles - Sonic got me out of there pretty quickly."

"Admit it, Amy, what we saw there was no joke."

"Please, don't talk about it, I'm not in the mood for that today."

At that point, Tails got pretty tired of our squabbling at put his hand up, thus ending our conversation. He had gained this hint of authority in his ego over the years which sometimes made him completely intolerable.

"Listen - we have to let Knuckles finish so we can go back out and excavate."

"Wait, are you insinuating that we go back to that Hellzone? Tails, you can't be serious!" Cream raised her voice to much above-normal levels. It was a shock to all of us, but Tails seemed as if he expected it coming.

"Cream... we have to. We have to find bodies, and as you and Cheese urged, we have to get the survivors."

"B-but... I don't want to go back out there again..."

Tails's ears flattened. What Sonic said on the battlefield... he wasn't joking... he really _did_ care about someone other than himself...

"Cream, I don't want to either..."

Amy interrupted him, "None of us do, Tails. But you're right - we have to. I know it may seem like a frightening prospect, Cream... but in a way, it's a good thing we're going back."

"H-how?"

"Because we may find more than just human survivors," I said. I was very hopeful that I'd find Rouge... though after hearing that Sonic was dead... I was preparing myself for the worst.

"Wait... we didn't get a chance to see the end of that battle anyway, you two - assess the damage for us, will you?"

"The city's completely decimated. We didn't really look around, we just found Sonic's body and got the Hell out of there."

"Did the news tell you anything more than Sonic's fate?"

"Well, Shadow's dead, for one."

"What! Damn, that makes 3 dead!"

"Three?"

"Yeah, Cream - Charmy, Sonic, and Shadow."

"Oh..."

Tails seemed uneffected by Charmy's death, and if that was so, he wouldn't be the only one. No one really cared but Vector, who, as the current "leader" of the Chaotix (still me, damn it, he forgot about Mighty's existance, whereas I went and got him!), forced Sonic to let him bring Charmy along even though he was much to young to be involved in that type of shit, like Tails and Cream were. Then, of course, when he saw Vanilla being...

"Oh wait... that's **_five_** deaths..."

"FIVE!"

"Yes, Tails, five... before I left... Charmy, Sonic, Shadow... and then as we were leaving, Vector tried to rescue Vanilla... and they both died."

"WHAT? MY MOM!"

"Yeah, I forgot about that part... I would've told you sooner, but..."

"WHAT DO YOU MEAN YOU FORGOT THAT PART! MY MOM'S DEAD AND YOU FORGOT TO TELL ME!" Cream was really angry... something she never dared to be. It was different, but before I got a chance to think about it, I realized she had gotten up and come back with a blunt, metal object of some sort and was flying at me with it. Before I could get up, Tails hovered in front of her.

"CREAM, STOP! He's had as rough of a day as we have... we can't blame him... even though he's an asshole for doing it... we can't blame him for it..."

She had tears in her eyes at she stared at Tails's unnerving glance. Tails really knew his way around people, that was for damn sure. And he had gotten rather intimidating over the years. He was already Sonic's height, and with those two helicopter blades sticking out of his ass, he could kill a man without even thinking about it - just grab the mother fucker and choke him to death with one of those tails. Puberty had hit him nicely. His voice had gone from what it was to a much lower, much more mature voice, and though he retained his scientific nerd-like attitude, when he got mad he had the capability to keep his anger under control yet still make his point pretty damn clear through means of incredibly rational arguing and debate and, in terms of his enemies, just flat out hitting someone over the face. His color had changed as well - it was now more of a darker orange as it used to be, and had a firey sort of quality, however, most of his fur was hidden behind his clothes. When you looked at him, you saw a 22 year old, not a 16 year old.

"Tails... he just..."

"I understand wholeheartedly... but you can't let it get to you..."

"Yeah, not at a time like this." By the way Amy looked at me after saying that, however, seemed to mean that she, although agreeing with Tails, supported Cream's actions.

Cream and Tails sat down. Cheese began to stare at me, angrily, and I stared at him back, causing him to turn back, frightened, to go comfort his owner.

"Anyway Knuckles... do go on. Blood or not - I want to know what happened."

"Alright..."

**KNUCKLES FLASHBACK POV  
**

The light... the way it... hit that building... BAM! Crushed in an instant... by the fall of that damned claw. It was throwing grenades throughout the air, littering the streets with explosions and utter chaos. It threw its mighty tan claws against the pavement, the force impacting the pavement allowing the claw to burrow underground and fly back out. It grabbed cars with the simple press of a button, grabbed them and threw them against anything... and everything. Eggman's mission was to destroy. Why he was destroying, or what he was planning on creating afterwards... we had no idea. But his plans recently, they all have had one link: the destruction factor. His plans as of late, he has laid claim to these plots of decimation, to the point of leaving an area so decimated, so barren, after his attack, that they can almost be seen as exact parallels to the real world. If one were to look at Station Square parallax at its state after that first attack, they would see nothing... just smoke. Smoke, flame, ash, and metal. What was strange about the attack is that he didn't merely destroy buildings, but he had that scorpion thing literally pick up buildings or the tops of buildings, throw them into the sky and then blow them up. He grabbed multiple buildings in the claws and just spun around with them... spewing them around the city... this was his ultimate plan... the killing machine he had been perfecting ever since the early '90s... Scrap Brain wasn't enough for him... the Death Egg wasn't enough for him... Metal Sonic, Chaos, the fall of the ARK, the attack on Soleanna, far too little for him. He wanted results. Those other little games he had been playing with us, they weren't what he wanted... he wanted more. (AN: I want you readers to note this: in the games themeselves, his attacks have been increasingly less against Sonic and more against everyone - his attacks have been more focused on killing multiple people than just killing Sonic, and eventually, they're going to reach a tipping point, and that's what this story is about - Eggman's tipping point, the barrier between E-rated attacks and M-rated attacks - Sonic's dead, and he's doing all he can to kill as many people as possible... and the SCORPION's attack on Station Square isn't all he's doing to accomplish that...)

When Shadow threw me the gun, I decided he was right - it was my time to fight. I picked myself up and ran toward the beast. I discovered a little insignia on the bottom of the gun - this was one of Tails's creations... one of the only things he salvaged from the ACIDFiX. It was a laser shotgun of sorts, capable of a rapid fire mode that could shoot 100 seperate charges every 2 minutes. It needed to be reloaded frequently, but Shadow gave me all the ammo he could to prepare myself. As I ran toward the beast, one of its hundreds of claws came at me. The gargantuan thing launched its arm steadfast at my chest and head. But I saw an opening, a contour in its metal form, a joint if you will. So I grabbed it. I held on like it was the last day of my life and my only salvation was riding this thing until it stopped - which would prove to be the truth of the situation. It was then that I saw Vector's death - as I was launched into the air, holding on for dear life, one hand on the joint, one hand on the trigger - Vanilla was about to be crushed when Vector tried knocking her out of the way. A claw came from underground and launched her upwards, then grabbed her and crushed her alive. Whereas Vector was left in her position, he was brutally smacked across the face by the monstrosity, and was propelled across the battlefield and eventually flew over the beast's torso and in past me. He was screaming in pain, still alive after the hit, so out of mercy I looked in his direction, and even though he was being launched, I knew my aim was correct - I charged a blast and shot him in the back, where his spinal cord connected at the neck, because I knew that if he landed he would die a slow, painful death - alone. I looked over and saw Espio's body, unconsious, unmoving - there was no blood puddle, so I couldn't be too sure if he was dead or not. While normally I wouldn't doubt it, until I knew for sure, I wasn't ready to mark him up on the death count just yet.

As I held on, I noticed an oily liquid dripping down from the claw... it was a poison. From the looks of it, it was some anti-Chaos Energy fluid, the likes of which totally destroyed almost all of my ancestors' legacy, and left 6/8 of their population dead. I couldn't be hit by that stuff. When I was at the right point, I jumped from the joint onto the torso of the scorpion. From that point on, both my hands rested on the trigger.

Inhale, exhale - I was barely managing to breathe. I cried out in fury as I grabbed the gun. Lock, stock, and barrel, I ran toward the thing's head, hand pressing the trigger, charging up what was sure to be the final blow on the thing. I had no sense of planning, no sense of logic... that's the point where I lost control of myself. The two hedgehogs flew above me attacking the claws head-on as I ran below them, charging for a target that who knows weather or not it existed. Rouge was trying to get into its underbelly, to shutdown its power source. And Amy, just as Sonic had told her, was hiding for dear life.

The Chaotix was as good as dead. Mighty was nowhere to be seen, Vector and Charmy were dead, and Espio was either unconsious or dead like the other two.

And all the while I ran. Ran like there was no tomorrow.

More buildings were falling. Cars being flailed left and right. Screaming from every direction, water spewing from the destroyed pipe system, sparks flying due to torn down phone lines, asphault left in piles, once busy intersections seaming with commerce now nothing but dirt and potholes seaming with piles of dead bodies. A whole lot of blood on the ground, too. A whole lot of blood. Ashes flying everywhere, people flying out of whatever buildings or windows remained to jump out of. And explosions. Too many god damn explosions. Bombs, buildings, mines, cars, power lines, pipe lines, parts of the scorpion - fucking exploding all at the same time all in different places. Like some sort of apocalyptic symphony, all of them together had this kind of deadly synergy - a fusion of nature's beautiful flaming light shows and mankind's deadly bloodlust coming together in such hybrid motion that they could move many to absolute tears out of the indescribable wonder of devastation, the horrible yet awe-inspiring feelings this sort of thing evoked.

It was like watching 9/11 only with an atom bomb rather than a plane. Something so majestic that it forced feelings of suicide in the happiest of people.

This must've been why we didn't bring you, Tails - you would've committed suicide right there. I know you deny it now, but god damnit, I was this close to shooting myself in the face. You try watching thousands of innocent people being crushed by a monster and not throwing up. Watching someone being hit in the stomach by a giant claw and being launched into the former door of what used to be a brand new car and now was nothing but a wrecked frame, vommitting blood all over himself and then finally dying in the most horrible kind of pain imaginable.

And all the while I ran... **because there** **_was _no tomorrow.**

And finally... while I ran... I felt some sort of motion under my feet.

"KNUCKLES!"

The torso exploded beneath me. I was propelled to the right, flying into a well positioned tail, when Sonic homed in on me and pushed me out of the way, knocking me onto a pile of bodies for a "safe" landing.

"Sonic, watch your back!"

"Same to you, Knucklehead! What the Hell were you doing there, anyway?"

The gun was no longer with me - it had soared elsewhere.

"I have no idea - I had a loaded gun and I was going to do some damage."

"This is a machine, Knuckles, there's no nerve center at the top of the neck - in fact, the only spinal cord on that thing is a system of well-placed mines, as proven by what just happened there."

"Shit, that's what that was?"

"What else was it, man?"

"I don't know."

"Look... everyone but 5 of us has died already... I know it sounds tough, and I know you want to stay around and fight - but I need you to get Amy out of here for me, alright?"

"Sonic! I can't, I need to stay and fight!"

"I _know_ that, but... look, it's more important that you get Amy out of here, alright? And I know you're worried about Rouge, and I know that we do need you, but I need Amy safe, alright? And you're the only one that can dig underground to get her out."

"Sonic -"

"Just do this for me, Knuckles - don't be an asshole. It's not because I'm worried about her... well... I am, but nevertheless... there's a reason she needs to be out of here, and it's something I can't really discuss right now."

"But -"

"Man, just do it - I need to get back to the fight, we don't have time for this... I've done plenty of shit for you, you can do this one thing for me, right?"

"Yeah, I guess."

"Cool... AMY!"

"Yes, Sonikku?"

"Knuckles is gonna get you home, alright?"

"Sonikku?"

"I'm sorry Ames, but I can't risk you getting hurt... we know all too well why..."

"Right... alright."

"Stay safe, hon. Promise me that."

"Of course, Sonic... I love you..."

"...I love you too, Amy, you know that... don't cry, I'll be okay... in fact, I'll probably be home before you get there!"

"I doubt it... but if you're at Tails's Workshop before me, can you hide like you usually do... it'd make me feel better..."

"Of course, Amy, anything... just as long as you promise me you stay safe... we've lost way too many people today... the last person I want to lose is you..."

"Sonic... you stay safe too."

"I promise."

"That's better... I'll see you at home, Sonic."

"Yeah... bye honey."

"I love you."

"I know."

By that time, I had already dug a hole underground.

"Amy, jump in, we don't have much time before this place gets even more dangerous and harder to dig through."

"You sure about this?"

"Of course, it's safe, just jump in."

"Okay."

She jumped in, and I saw Sonic staring down at us.

"Hey, Knuckles... take care of her for me, man."

"Yeah, Sonic... yeah..."

He saluted the two of us and jumped off to attack... and I started to dig...

**END FLASHBACK**

**Act II: Too Black, Too Strong**

Meanwhile, in a realm not far from here... a blue hedgehog walks along a path of light, surrounded by a picture show of his own memories... singing a strangely familiar tune...

**Sonic's POV, From His Journal, Present Tense**

ENTRY 2:

As I walk along, I find myself questioning my life, and the memories that I see before me. I remember my experience with Blaze, and how I questioned weather I'd rather love her or love Amy... Amy won out in the end, but I found myself wondering about what my life would be like with Blaze in Amy's place. And about relationships, I just recently found myself questioning my own sexuality, and weather or not I ever had any attraction for a person of the same sex... I hadn't thought about it while I was alive, but now that I'm dead, I'm free to think about and discuss what I'd like at will... and I was thinking a lot about relationships now... and how close I was to certain people.

I remember sleeping last night, and thinking about nothing other than the events of the past month... my proposal to her, and then two weeks later, I dared to "forget" protection, and though it was a lot more sensual then it had been, by the next morning I knew it was a mistake. Her and I made love frequently, sure, albiet not as much as Knuckles and Rouge, but we did do it as much as any other couple, I believe. I loved her a lot, and I had developed an instinct that told me something was wrong. That next morning, when I woke up, she felt different. When I touched her, she felt warmer than normal... it wasn't a fever, it was a different kind of warm, the kind of warmth that we sustained the first few minutes after we first had sex. When she woke up, and we had our little "good morning" talk we had been having every day for the past year since we had starting living together, it was different... she sounded like she had reached some kind of euphoria...

Then the next morning... when she started throwing up... and I knew by her voice that she wasn't sick. It was different. And she started getting closer to me... she started staying in bed longer, started to rub up closer to me while we slept... so she realized something was wrong too. She bought a test...

It wasn't a mistake, or a good thing... I don't know what it was. I was set to be a father. That's all I cared about... and God was I with her that day... we didn't... I can't really describe what I did with her... I kissed her a lot, I held her a lot... but I loved her, man... it was this thing where it supersceded everything... she was more important than everything else, man... and I didn't love her until I was about 20... that's when we started dating... best 4 years of my short life, that's for damn sure. What's strangest about the whole thing is that whenever I talk about her, or in this case, write about her, my mind moves to this upper level and I become, or became, almost as intellectual as Tails is. We had some sort of connection, I knew what she was thinking, and I was able to combine my mental capacity with hers in some sort of ESP-psychological-trancendence sort of thing. I talked to Tails about it, and he gave me one of his multitude of books on the subject of, to quote him, "What the human mind does with that extra 90." He's out there in some sort of zone, we all know this, but lately his thoughts had encompassed a lot less, and I knew that there was one thing his mind was focused on, and I'm very proud of him for that... I'm hoping that he doesn't find himself becoming a replacement hero now that I'm dead and losing track of that thing... I want him to get that thing he's focused on first... then he can be the hero.

I'm still singing that song... wait... who's that? There's someone else here? They're whistling something... who is that?

I'm dead, so it must be someone else that died... who is that?

Oh... it's...

He's calling me over.

I'm gonna stop writing for a second here...

ENTRY 3:

It was Shadow... quite a conversation... turns out his heart exploded due to that anti-Chaos Energy substance that was on the claws. Literally flew out of his chest, he said. And popped.

Damn. A lot worse than how I died. At least I got to get that final message out... I hope that Amy heard it...

Anyway... yeah, it was Shadow... we talked for a bit... he found beer... He's got a lot more shit to deal with than I do, that guy... he always had... Hell...

Eh... I guess we're even now. I knocked up my girlfriend not 2 weeks after we got engaged... it was a mistake, and yet it wasn't, because I wanted to have a kid, just not yet... you know, during the honeymoon... shit. And, of course... I'm dead. That guy was a loner, and didn't really have any problems other than himself.

And, of course, he's not really dead. He can go back at any time. This I didn't know... he told me when I found him.

I prayed to whatever entitiy was listening that Amy and Knuckles made it out alive... although at this point, I think I'd rather have the four of them dead than have to think of her running every day in her life away from the onslaught of machines that Eggman had unleashed. I don't know what happened to Rouge, but Shadow said she was still alive as he was being killed... so that leaves hope for Knuckles's general will to live... I didn't really know the extent of their relationship, really, and weather or not their "love" for each other ever left their bedrooms. And the stories I heard... shit, they were insane... but I don't know if they were there for each other or for just plain sex, and from the looks of it, my opinion had been increasingly more suspicious of the latter being the case.

Now then, back to Shadow... here's basically how our conversation went.

"Shadow?"

"Sonic... nice to see you again."

"Hell, when did you die?"

"About 30 minutes after you did. Didn't stand much of a chance, really."

"Shit, what did he do to you?"

"There was an anti-Chaos Energy substance laced into the inner fiber of the claws. When it hit my chest, it caused my life systems to go off the scales. My heart pumped too fast and was promptly thrown out of my chest, then it exploded in front of my eyes. As my vision faded and I died, I noticed the only one left was the bat, and I don't doubt she was on her way out one way or the other."

"So where's the hole?"

"What?"

"In your chest. Shouldn't there be a gap there?"

"No - I'm dead. I still have my Chaos Energy, I just healed myself."

"You can do that now?"

"How do you think I survived falling to Earth, Sonic?"

"You hit the ground and you healed yourself?"

"No, Sonic - I _didn't _survive. I revived myself."

"So, what, you've been dead before?"

"Yes... all too many times."

"So that's why you're immortal, then?"

"Yes... and it pretty much wraps up that whole I'm the Ultimate Lifeform thing."

"Yeah, really... you can't be the Ultimate Lifeform if you're not one..."

"Indeed, Sonic. You see, I can go back to Earth at any time, and leave this dead zone behind."

"Has to be a burden, doesn't it?"

"What, being a psuedo-zombie?"

"Yes."

"All too true... for you see, being what I am, and having the abilities that I do, my life is so tied to the Emeralds that it's a killing force. Hell, being immortal or mortal is an every day fucking decision. I could kill myself for the fun of it."

"What, you haven't then?"

"No, I have - twice. But that's beside the point."

"Right. Why are you discussing this with me, anyway?"

"You want a drink?"

"What drink?"

"I found beer not to far from here - you want one?"

"Eh, sure - I'm dead, why the Hell not?"

"Here, take it. I'm not going to drink them anyway."

I took a long, hard swig and threw the can behind me.

"Well, neither am I... so... immortal?"

"The entire damn thing's incredibly nervewracking... too much pressure..."

"Heh... too black, too strong?"

He smiled at this remark.

"Couldn't put it any better."

"Hell, Tails could."

We both had a good laugh at this, then I stood up.

"Well... I should be going."

"Where, Faker? Where would you be going here?"

"I don't know... but something just compels me to walk aimlessly... there are some answers I need to find some questions for..."

"Don't you mean that the other way around?"

"No... my memories gave me the answers, but I figure now that I'm dead, I may see what they were answering."

"Good luck with that, Sonic."

"Yeah, good luck to you too, man - with whatever you decide."

He nodded, and we went our seperate ways. Something tells me this journey just got even longer than it's supposed to be.

**Act III: Flight**

**Tails's POV**

The decision to go to Station Square wasn't one, really. We just knew... after Knuckles's flashback was over...

"Let's go."

"Tails -"

"We have to. Before it gets worse out there."

Knuckles walked outside and just stared in the direction of the smoke, while Cream and Amy changed and I grabbed an overcoat and some black jeans... excavation clothes. Normally, I just wore an undershirt and some loose khakis, and in times when I needed them, my glasses. I had developed a slight seeing problem over the years, so I had acquired myself a pair of quite expensive frameless glasses, paid for courtesy of the government, who decided to start paying us all good wages and giving us upper-class benefits. It was nice, but we saved most of it, meaning we still lived in the same places in the same conditions. No mansions for us. However, I had been able to put a lot more research in because of the money, and it happened to be a lot more meaningful as well, rather than just making planes, robots, and guns all the time. For warfare I had my training... for science, I put my mind to what it needed to be put to: finding real solutions for other problems. My spare time for the last 5 years had been souly devoted to one project, however: liquid metal. I was developing a product that was like a feasible mercury. A metal that could revert to a liquid state at any time, and could solidify at the touch of a button through means of nanotech. A metal that could conform, that could be conformed, without any trouble at all. And most importantly, a metal that didn't need heat to be transformed, and that stayed the same way weather it was freezing cold or volcano hot. Every time I got it, it broke down, however, into, as I found out very recently as of the time of this writing, dark matter... but that's a story for another time, and in order to tell that story, I need to tell this one... but the few minutes that I saw the substance, the liquid metal... it was incredible... once I was able to take a drop out of the container and stretch it into a living, breathing, floating stream of liquid metal. With the flick of a switch, I turned on the nanobots inside of the substance, and the stream began to solidify into dark metal, which is, obviously, a darker metal, and has the properties of a metal combined with a dark matter. Right before the droplet I was holding froze, however... I dropped it away from the dark metal... and it splashed onto the metal desk. The desk turned into liquid metal... bubbling in front of my face was what could be the most important and profitable discovery of the millenium...

And then the desk turned into dark matter. The container that supported the dark metal stream crashed onto the ground, as it had fallen through the now vacant space, thus making the dark metal stream fall, crack in half, and turn into dark matter. I was crushed, but my efforts weren't. In fact, the night before Sonic died was when I experienced the sixth appearance of the liquid metal... it flew out of the container, as if it was alive, hit my ceiling, and bounced back toward my hand. I tried moving it back and I couldn't - it hit my hand and near engulfed the thing. I noted that, if given the chance, the liquid metal could bind with one's physical structure and turn them into the literal cyborg. Cyborg or not, the only way I could make another ACID-series vehicle was if I had access to that material.

However, the ACIDFiX's services were not required as of late - our mission was simple: leave, search, and come back. We hadn't been thinking much, but it's about time we started doing so. In fact, as I write this, I'm transcribing from my personal notes, a collection of psuedo-journal entries I wrote while this event went on, and I find that I wrote about nonsense just to distract myself from the main event, and I find the fact that the nonsense from my notes is slipping into this memoir is very embarassing. (AN: Tails is very strange when he gets his hands on a keyboard, and tends to ramble on, so forgive him for doing so in this story... he's trying, and promises no more interruptions. Bumbling professor, eh?)

I put on my glasses, grabbed a bottle of water for sustinence, then headed out. Luckilly, Knuckles was still the only one out there, taking longer to get ready than two women, one being a teenager, would make me look a tad off. He turned around to see me staring in the direction he had been for the past couple of minutes.

"Hey man."

I nudged my head upwards to aknowledge him.

"You know where the girls are?"

"No, not really."

"Eh, figures. Why did I ask you anyway? It's not like you would know, Mr. Keep It Buried."

"What?"

"Nothing, nothing at all."

"Alright..." Amy's voice rang from the doorway. She and Cream walked out and stared along with me into the distant smoke. That combined with the fact that it was foggy made for a disorentating sky. Yet Cream and I were flying Amy and Knuckles respectively.

I nodded. "Let's fly."

"Wait, Tails... I can't fly in this. There's no way."

I sighed. I didn't want to have to, but I knew I did - I had to bring out the...

Mecha Tail. I had salvaged it, I had rebuilt it... it had taken some heavy damage in my aerial antics against the Kukku army back in the day... it didn't have enough room for 4, barely enough for 2 even, and I was afraid that its frame wouldn't be able to withstand the forces we were going to feel in that hellacious sky.

"Yeah, Tails, Cream's right... you still have that Mecha Tail thing, don't you?"

"I'm not in the mood for planes right now." "Yes, Amy, I still have it, and it works... it'll be hard to cram us all into there though, I must warn you."

"It's safer than flying though, Tails... much safer."

"We both know this all too well, Cream, however, it's still -"

"Dangerous. I know, Tails. But it's a risk, and we, even though I'm not usually one to say this... have to take it."

I raised my eyebrows at that remark. She had changed a lot, and it only made her even more... _her_... but I digress...

I began taking off my glasses, but I paused, and said to her, very calmly, "...Then let's do it."

We all nodded, and I went inside to get my goggles and open the launch strip. I ran into the garage, put on my goggles, and hit the switch... the cold blast of Mystic Ruins air felt good on my chest even with the shirt on, and made me pine for the days that I went without them.

"Hey, guys!"

"Tails?"

"Let's fly."

**_Takeoff._**

**Act IV: Enter, Exit, Escape**

The landing was rough. Very hard, very rough - and very fun. We were going to continue airborne, but the smoke had gotten worse - much worse. The city was completely torn apart... every building imaginable was in crumbles... and we had no idea why...

**Eggman, Third Person POV  
**  
"GOPHEr... I must confess... this mission would not be the success it is without your capabilities..." The doctor was sitting in the cockpit of the beta ii... setting up its targeting system.

"Thank you, Master Robotnik." Its grainy, robotick voice pushed itself through the speaker on the dashboard.

"I need you one last time before I execute the second attack, however." He spoke into the speaker.

"What are your orders, Master?"

"Execute the OMEGA alert system."

"Tape number."

"Practice 27."

"Practice 27 working. Breaching Soleanna police alert system."

"Excellent. Execute the second order."

"Second order, first side."

"Third billing. Correct, GOPHEr!"

"Working."

The good doctor took a stick of gum from his pocket and shoved it between his teeth and began to chew. He had, over time, developed some elderly quirks, such as a strange oral fixation which made him need to chew like an infant. He always had a stick of gum handy when the fixation bothered him.

"Splendid, GOPHEr!"

"System breached, Master Robotnik."

"Perfect... initiate code."

"Working... code initiating... alert processing..."

"Perfect! Beta 2, give me live feed of Soleanna, eastside."

A screen appeared on the dashboard showing a live camera feed of the eastside of Soleanna... a large fountain was positioned over a bed of water, hovering... the city had been rebuilt since Eggman attacked it in search of the emeralds some 7 years ago...

And then, the GOPHEr's false alert... "ATTENT, ALL CITIZENS OF SOLEANNA, ATTENT! EVACUATE FROM EASTSIDE NOW! SECURITY NOTIFIED OF BREACH! ALL CONGREGATE IN WESTSIDE! DO NOT BE ALARMED! MILITARY ALL CENTER IN EASTSIDE! ATTENT, ALL CITIZENS OF SOLEANNA, ATTENT! EVACUATE FROM EASTSIDE NOW! SECURITY NOTIFIED OF BREACH! THREAT DETECTED! CONGREGATE IN WESTSIDE, FIFTEENTH PARALLEL! CONGREGATE IN WESTSIDE, FIFTEENTH PARALLEL!"

The message continued. Eggman watched it on-screen... a massive amount of people immediately driving away from their homes... and the military settling in. His plan was coming through perfectly...

"Ah, yes! I will attack the modren side, going for their commerce district first! And the military suspects my arrival in the east! Little do they know I have now free range to their workplaces and work force! I will take Soleanna **down!**"

He laughed, triumphantly. Soon, the beta ii would lay its claim to Soleanna, and destroy it the way its brother did Station Square.

"Beta 2! Show your true form! Activate MARK II!"

The beta ii, formerly a larger Eggmobile, began to take its true shape...

Its parts molded and transformed, changing color.

Its conforms moved with the fluidity of water, and the sun reflected off of its new hue like glass...

It hit the ground with a thump.

Project VENOM... one of many...

Enter Egg SCORPION, Mark II.

**Tails's POV**

We split up... Cream and Cheese went with Amy, and, surprisingly, I went with Knuckles. Knuckles apparently wanted one flier per one walker, which made sense, but he also wanted to "talk with me about something," which surprised me, because Knuckles usually ignores me, reguarding me as a selfish prick.

We each went our seperate ways as groups and searched. I brought along GPS/communicator devices so we could keep track of each other and ourselves. Knuckles and I decided to go at a slower pace, investigating what we could at a good speed so we wouldn't miss much. We already had found a survivor, who followed us and was pointing out where he saw survivors himself. His name was Tim, he was an officer who was saving people from a tower at the time, and saw Shadow's body being propelled at the window he was behind.

"Tim, where did you say that next survivor was?" Knuckles asked him.

"This is a bit too much, let me think..."

"There's no time," he pressured, "it's crucial you give us that information **now**."

"Knuckles, calm down... Tim, it's fine, think as long as you want."

"Thank you, Tails. You know, I always didn't think of you as much of a hero as compared to the others... come to think of it, after the entire Angel Island thing with Knuckles, we all just overlooked you."

"I know it. But I fight anyway, I don't really care about the media or fans, none of us do."

"I heard a rumor Sonic was engaged before he died - did he really care about his personal life enough to do that?"

"Yeah," Knuckles answered, "he wasn't only engaged, he was set to have a kid."

"Really? Like, after the engagement, or -"

"Yeah."

"Shit - is she okay?"

"Yeah."

"Who is she, anyway? That bat chick?"

Knuckles scowled low at this, "No. Certainly not Rouge..."

He then mumbled under his breath, "I'd kill him," or something similar, then continued, "but Amy."

"Oh! The hammer girl, right?"

"Yeah."

"Wasn't she just a crazed fan?"

"Yep, until Sonic fell for her," I said, before Knuckles could do any more damage.

"Right."

"Anyway, Tim - you done thinking?"

"Yeah, Knuckles... I remember now... she was running up the stairs when the building fell, and when she landed, I could still hear her voice under the pile of rubble... RIGHT BEHIND ME!"

"Right - I'll go lift the rubble, Tails, Tim, you two go search for other survivors."

We both nodded and headed in the opposite direction.

"So, Tails, is it true your name's really Miles Prower?"

"Yeah, not a lot of people know that."

"Are you, like, the only one in the group with a last name, or..."

"No, Amy has one, but other than that... come to think of it, last time I heard Sonic being called by his last name, his doctor was paging 'Mr. Hedgehog.'"

"So Amy Rose is now Amy the Hedgehog, then?"

"I guess so... though I think 'the' would qualify as Sonic's middle name..."

"So just Amy Hedgehog, then?"

"Maybe."

"Huh! That's pretty strange!"

"Yeah... Tim, do you remember if there were any other survivors in the area?"

"No, not necessarily... but I bet we'll find some... we are standing on what was formerly the 2nd tallest building in the Station Square metropolitan area..."

Then another voice. A gruffer one than Tim's, but still male, coming from in front of us... it sounded weak, from under the rubble... "Tim? Tim..." He coughed a bit, then continued... "Buddy, Tim, is that, can that possibly be you... God, please save me..."

"GARY! Tails! I know that voice from anywhere!"

"Another survivor? Who is it?"

"A fellow officer of mine, Gary... oh God, he's my son's Godfather... Gary, you okay?"

"N-not r-really... but I'm alive..."

"Don't worry, Gary, Knuckles will get you out of that rubble."

"KNUCKLES! Did you get that other survivor yet?"

He called over from the distance, "Yeah! She's fine... right?"

The young, business woman responded, "Yes... thanks to you..."

Knuckles grinned and helped her over to us.

"We'll take care of her... we've got another one over there." I pointed to where Gary was yelling from, and Knuckles nodded.

"I got it!"

Tim perched the struggling woman on his shoulder and looked into her face.

"No..."

They stared at each other for a moment.

"Tim?"

"Lisa... you're alive..."

"TIM!"

They hugged and kissed, and stared at each other more.

"Oh thank God, Lisa... I was sure I had lost you..."

"I'm surprised I didn't recognize you before... were you the officer in my office building?

"Yes, I was..."

"Did you see when -"

"Shadow? Yeah... I saw it."

"Oh my God, right?"

"Yeah..."

"I wonder if Jason is okay..."

"I'm sure he is, honey, those schools have basements, they're legally prepared for Eggman attacks."

"Yeah, but not at this scale... he's obliviated everything..."

Tears formed in both of their eyes as they held each other again. Meanwhile, Knuckles had unearthed Gary.

"Tim, Lisa!"

Lisa looked over at the 3rd survivor.

"Gary?"

"I'm glad to see you two made it out okay!"

"Gary! Oh my God, Tim, it's Gary!"

"I know... I heard him from under the rubble..."

"Oh my God! We all made it through!"

Gary was ecstatic, "UNBELIEVABLE!"

They all hugged each other in thanks, then they looked at us.

"You two are absolute Godsends... but I must ask for one more favor." Lisa looked at us with eyes of worry, "I need you to find my son..."

Knuckles looked at her with a dead-serious look, "Where is he?"

"On the other side of the city."

"In that case, Cream and Amy probably already have him."

"Oh, bless you two! I thought there was no one left!"

"Sonic's not the only hope in this world, ma'am." I told her this with the upmost respect, however, I made it sound detrimental to her person on purpose.

"I hadn't realized that fact until now, Tails," Gary said, "None of us had. Thank you."

"It's our job," Knuckles responded. "Now then - Tails, I need you to stay with these three and bring them to find survivors... I have something else to look for."

"Hmm..." I looked at him closely. I paused for a moment, then continued, "Alright then, Knuckles." I smirked. "Go get her."

He gasped slightly, then smiled, "Thanks. I know she's out there somewhere..."

"Then go get her."

Lisa looked at him, "Tails is right - whoever you're after, go for her."

Gary looked at Lisa and Tim, "Can't you tell, it's that Rouge that he's after! Go get her, Knuckles!"

Knuckles's face lit up for the first time that I had ever seen it do that. He nodded, "Right. We'll be back shortly, then."

Lisa smiled at him, weakly because of the pain of the wounds, "Kiss her for us!"

Knuckles's face turned a bright red, he nodded again, shyly, and walked off.

As he walked off, he yelled to us, and yelled to the air, "I'LL GET HER! ROUGE, I'M COMING!"

I smiled, knowing that Knuckles was finally doing something good for himself. Then I turned to the other survivors.

"Let's go save some lives."

They all nodded. No matter how weak they were, they were going to help others as we had helped them. This was the fault in Eggman's plan - survivors' vigor.

**Cream's POV**

We had found a multitude of survivors... well, when I say we, I mean Cheese and I... Amy was too busy feeling sorry for herself to really search. I understood, sure, but... talk about a way to boost survivor morale. Cheese was the searcher, and I was the comforter... he uncovered survivors and brought them to our little safety area, where I consoled them and told them that it was going to be alright, etc. Then I left them with Amy to help Cheese find more survivors.

But something _had_ to go wrong, and something did... it's something I'll never stop regretting... but I can't say it didn't happen, because as Tails will tell you, it did... that fox is like a catalouge... at the time this happened, I knew I liked him... a lot... but I guess I was waiting for him to say something... and it was when what went wrong happened that my feelings for him grew stronger than ever... I loved that fox. The bad thing was, as Amy told me, is that Tails is the type of person that has no time for love or things relating to it, and that there was _always_ something in his life that was "more important," and that stressed me in a way because I couldn't shake my feelings for him no matter how much I wanted to.

Anyway... as soon as I left Amy alone with the survivors, I went to catch up with Cheese. There he was, greeting me with his cheerful "Chao chao!" like he always did... and then we found the remains of what appeared to be a school... and Cheese evacuated a bunch of children and teachers from the basement, sent them to Amy...

But I stepped inside the basement they were hiding in, along with Cheese... and it sensed us as intruders...

I can't really describe it in detail... it was horrible. Lasers shot at us like mad, and there was still one child left, who barely avoided the crossfire... and meanwhile... I don't want to write it... but I have to... anti-small-robot vents were opening on the sides of the walls...

I don't... and they...

He tried to escape, I tried to help him...

Cheese got pulled into the vortex of one of the vents. I ran out of the basement, burst the door open with my ears, and began to fly after him. I saw him being shot out of a hole in the ground at a very high speed. He cried for me... he cried out for me... he even cried out for Tails... and I just flew after him... but he hit a building frame, and a broken billboard, and was bounced far into the sky...

And I couldn't get him...

My Cheese, the only thing I had left... he was gone... I can't... I fell to the ground in tears. I looked into the sky and yelled for him, seeing if he had regained his sense of flight enough to come back to me... but he didn't. And he couldn't. So I cried. I cried the hardest I had that day... and then I collapsed completely... my mom, my Chao, my would-be father, some of my best friends... they were no longer among the living... I couldn't help but drown in tears...

And Tails wasn't there to help me anymore. I was alone, on the ruined pavement, crying to myself... I couldn't stop. But then, one of the survivors heard me... the kid that was left.

"Why are you crying?"

I sniffed, "N-no reason... c'mon, I'll take you to a safer place..."

"My mom says not to talk to strangers."

"It's okay... I'm with Sonic."

"SONIC'S HERE!" He smiled with glee at the mention of the name.

"N-no, n-not exactly. But everything's gonna be alright, okay?"

He nodded happily. I was holding myself together for this kid I had no relation to, no reason to be happy for.

"My name's Jason! Thank you for helping us!"

I smiled. "My name's Cream... and I'm glad to help, Jason."

He laughed.

I continued to smile... but another tear escaped my eye... on accident...

"Cream... why are you crying again?"

I sniffed, "You shouldn't be worried about me, Jason... I'll be fine... I just lost a friend..."

"The blue little guy?"

I sniffed, "Uh-huh..."

"He'll be okay! I lost my puppy once... I thought he'd be gone forever, too... but we found him near the cafe downtown!"

I giggled a bit... his innocence was very cute, but in a way grating because of what was going on...

"Yeah... c'mon... I'll bring you to the safe zone."

And when I dropped him off, and walked back to the school...

That was it. We had gotten 20 survivors in the whole east side of Station Square.

20... and I didn't even get Cheese out...

I wished Tails was there to tell me it would be okay, like he did when we found out Sonic died, like he did back at the warehouse...

It was there I knew I loved him more than anything else... if only he felt the same way...

Exit Cheese the Chao... I loved him so much...

**Knuckles's POV**

"It'll be okay... I've got you..."

"Kn-knuckles! Oh God!"

"It's okay..." I looked downward at the pavement, continuing to walk with her over my shoulder.

"Knuckles, why did this have to happen! Damn it, why!"

Her tears fell down my chest... she was bawling...

"I don't know... but it's gonna be okay, I sware to you..."

"KNUCKLES!"

I felt a tear run down my face...

"I'm going to get you home..."

"WE DON'T!"

"What..."

"Sonic said we don't love each other..."

She started crying harder. "That we only use each other for sex, Knuckles... I think he's right..."

"No, Rouge, that's not true... I love you..."

She continued crying.

"I can't be too sure of anything anymore, Knuckles..."

"Yes you can, Rouge. Nothing between us has changed."

"Knuckles..."

I let her off my shoulder and she embraced me, looking into my eyes. I kissed her lightly.

"Is your wing okay?"

She sniffed, and smiled in a way that I hadn't seen her smile before, and nestled her head into my chest.

"I love you Knuckles."

"I know, Rouge... I know..."

I kissed her on the forehead and walked with her, still embracing me, to the assigned meet up point. Tails was waiting with the survivors - all 10 of them.

"Oh, good, the red guy's got a chick. Something that emo one never had, eh Ed?"

"You said it Cliff."

"Tails, have you heard anything from Cream and Amy yet?"

"Did they find Jason?"

"My butt itches, anyone got a new pair of underwear?"

"Oh God, my life is ruined, I'm going to KILL MYSELF! ANYONE GOT A RAZOR?"

"ヘルプ、私は息が詰まります! 物はあつい若い猿殺人者の上の留め金〔握る事〕です! 次の生存者が何を言うか読んで知ろうと努めてください、私はあなたを恐れなくて、試みて目を殺します!"

"Heytailshowcomeyouhavetwotailsandwhydoessonicrunfast?Andwhydoesknuckleswearglovesandisrougeawhoreoristhatjusthowshelooks? Omigodwtfyouactuallyreadthisyouareamazingifyoupostwhatthissaysinyourreviewillgiveyouadollarviapaypalimnotkidding!111! Andwhydoesseganotknowthedifferencebetweensixyearoldrabbitsandthetoneofbarsandtone?"

"Out of 10 survivors, 3 are annoying, 1 can't speak english, 2 are drunk, and 2 are people I know in everyday life... unbelievable..."

The tenth survivor just stood there in a trance, mumbling. Rouge smiled at me and commented on what an odd assortment of people we had collected. I smiled back and kissed her again, tears in our eyes. It was an amazing feeling, this newfound closeness between us. I liked it. A lot.

Tails looked at us. "Good work, Knuckles... good to see you're safe, Rouge."

"Same to you, Prower."

He smirked, and then continued, "Alright, group - let's go see how Cream and Amy did."

Enter Rouge the Bat... thank God...

**-end chapter-**

* * *

Well, I really have nothing more to comment on... I like the Japanese text. I had to have a quirky group of survivors, but I had to have some of it be sentimental. Yes, the Jason that Cream found will be reuniting with his parents, yes Amy will come out of her slump... but what of poor Cheese? Yes, I know, it's a sad departure... but it only brings a certain couple closer together in the process... let's just say someone we know becomes the "new" Cheese, in a way, and next chapter will feature more fluff... too much more, really. Though I've been wanting to get the fluff out, there will be fluffiness in this story, just because of the circumstances. Look at Rouge and Knuckles... they're actually loving each other outside of Knuckles's room/Rouge's basement! Just imagine the possibilities when you read the title of Chapter 6... which, by the way... 

Coming in about a week, maybe less, maybe more... Golden Prevelance Chapter 6: Emotional Liberation, Mental Renaissance

Also, about the Knuckles x Rouge fluff: I had to do it. Knuckles does need someone to boost his morale like that. But as you'll soon see in chapter 6, it's not all fluff and games for this couple... oh no, they have their problems... looking forward to Act II of that chapter... in which a fight commences!

Also in chapter 6... I may go all fluff next chapter, and save Soleanna for chapter 7... the only way you'll know for sure is to review! I **always** reply to my reviews, and I **always **drop hints, so... review, and you'll get something in the mail within the day. For now? Goobah!


	6. Feeling Better About Feelings

Hey guys and girls! Back for another round, are we? Oh, I must confess, I hate writing long chapters. It takes too long, it hurts, and NO ONE READS THEM! Not enough people reviewed last chapter - except you, my faithful subscribers and favorite markers. You know who you are. Thank you, my faithfuls, for reviewing - makes me feel awesome.

ANYWAY! This chapter is going to be a short one, and a fluff one at that. I don't write fluff much, but this story is too damn grim - needs a cushion, don't you think? After reading azngirlchibi's "Bloodlust" (awesome work!), I realized that short chapters work plenty - plus, they're not as hard to write, and more chapters make your story look longer! So, short chapters from now on, and the maximum amount of words I've set for myself is 1500! No more 10000 word chapters with 1000 word paragraphs!

One more thing: I hate this title's chapter. If you do too, tell me.

Well, I don't own Sonic, but if I did, I wouldn't have made "Shadow the Hedgehog." ON WITH THE SHOW!

**Golden Prevalence**

Chapter 6: Feeling Better About Feelings

Act 1: Coming Home

**  
Tails's POV**

I remember the flight back home. Everyone was happy, really. Rouge and Knuckles were obsessing over each other, confessing things they had hidden for years. Amy was eccstatic that we had reconnected Jason with his parents. Knuckles, after confessing his love for Rouge, went on to saying how much he hated the survivors that we picked up but was happy that he was able to give them shelter on Angel Island, which was different for him. He normally was against anyone being up there. His supposed reasoning behind the offer was "to get rid of that annoying Japanese guy, the two little kids, and the drunks." I just think he wanted to be nice for his girlfriend - to impress her. Amy was right, he really was rather hopeless.

I was just happy we were going home. We didn't get as many survivors as I'd hoped, but we got some. And we wouldn't have to go back there again. I wondered to myself, however, if Eggman was planning on atacking Westopolis, or Soleanna, or Central City, or even locations outside of South Island, such as Cocoa Island or Westside Island. More importantly, I wondered - why was Cream... sulking? I tried to focus on navigating the Mecha Tail, but I kept finding myself looking back at her, and seeing her crouched into a little corner, even lightly sobbing at sometimes throughout the flight.

I was worried about her. I wanted to go back there and comfort her, to help her... it hurt. Whenever I had seen her cry lately, I felt a strange pain in my stomach. I was always used to seeing her happy, and whenever she cried, it just didn't feel right. I would've gone back into the plane (rather, vehicle) to talk to her, but the Mecha Tail, being as old as it was, had no autopilot. It was a child's toy, a transforming little thing. It was an AIBO with wings in its current form, really. AIBO with wings and a couple seats - we were packed in. I had extended it so there was a cabin, but the cabin only had room for 2 people. There were 4 people crammed into the cabin, but three of them were happy. Not even Knuckles was complaining.

But from the pilot's room, where I was, there was no way to really get into the cabin. I couldn't put the plane on autopilot, much less did the cabin have room for all 5 of us. Actually, Knuckles was on the back wing, standing and observing, leaving Rouge and Amy room up front, and Cream was crouched into the back.

I kept watching her. I wouldn't have taken my eyes off her if it weren't for the need to fly the plane. I was able to tell her facial expression even if I couldn't see her face. Her ears were sloped gently over her head, pointing downward, and her face was burried into her knees. She had put her hands above her knees, thus her head rested upon her hands, which were then placed on her cheeks. I turned back to the console. There was a dome window over the pilot's cabin, and I was rather cramped, as the dome was built for a 3 year old, not a 16 year old.

The cabin extension the others were sitting in was something I had made was built when we went back to Cocoa Island. Before leaving Cocoa, I made a quick stop at my old house. It was half-burnt, but I had the wearwithal to build a metal enclosure somewhat similar to my workshop in the Mystic Ruins. I grabbed all my old weaponry and gadgets from my old workshop, such as the Mecha Tail and the assorted bombs. Back then, I built battle accesories based off of my childhood heroes. We all knew who Sonic was, and I built a set of shoes that made me go fast, like him. I learned about the guardian of the Master Emerald from my parents, Knuckles, so I built a pair of gloves that replicated his punching skills. I also learned of the infamous treasure hunter, Nack, so I built a thing I called the Fang, which allowed me to recieve more rings when destroying an enemy.

Also at the time I extended the Mecha Tail, I extended my workshop. Sonic and the others had found themselves at home at my workshop, so I added on 7 guest rooms, changing the place from a 1 bedroom, 1 bathroom metal garage to a 7 bedroom, 3 bathroom home with a 1 bedroom, 1 bathroom metal garage. I also built a bigger kitchen and added a living room. Everyone had their own house or apartment at the time, though... well, except for Shadow, who made himself an almost permanent fixture in my house. Everyone had their own room at my workshop, and they used them quite a bit. I found myself no longer needing the 7 bedrooms, however, because eventually, Sonic and Amy began sleeping in the same room, as did Rouge and Kuckles, though not as often. I always shuddered at the fact that they were... having relations, so to speak, in my workshop, but I suppose it was my fault for giving them the oppertunity to sleep in my workshop in the first place.

I stared at my quivering hands which gripped the control sticks. I was shaking. I don't know why, but it was either that day's events, or... Cream. I'm not sure which, and to this day, I'm still trying to figure it out. I know I will eventually, but maybe recollecting the events will help me do so. The landing light turned on, and I switched my view to the window, noticing that we were nearing our target. I grabbed the speaker.

"Alright, everyone, we're almost home! Just hang on tight for another moment, and Knuckles, if it's not too much to ask, I'd like you to please take a seat inside the cabin, for as you have already experienced, the Mecha Tail has a Gear Landing System, and thus, it's going to be a very bumpy and unsafe landing."

"I'll take my chances - there's so much estrogen in that cabin I may turn pink."

I chuckled at this, and turned my attention back to the console. I pressed the landing gear button, and slowly manuvered the plane upwards to hit the trajectory ramp, which had already activated.

And then the GLS activated, and my head hit the tip of the dome.

"This is why I stopped using the Mecha Tail!" I yelled.

Knuckles, Amy, and Rouge all laughed at this, whereas Cream stayed crouched. I was surprised Amy hadn't gone to ask her what was wrong - maybe she was just too busy being happy for once that day. We did need it, after all.

Knuckles, however, got the second wave of GLS. When the second set of landing gear activated, he was left holding onto the wing for dear life.

"This plane SUCKS! Get me off of this damn thing, NOW!" He screamed.

I grabbed the speaker again. "Knuckles calm down... now it's just the -"

Then we were all thrown. Cream, who hadn't been paying attention to anything the entire flight, gasped at the rather sudden bump caused by us hitting the runway.

"What was that!" She screamed, mystified.

I picked up the speaker. "Don't worry about it, Cream, just a little turbulence, just sit tight, we're coming into the garage."

"Right... ow, my head..."

I looked back at her. One look at her face and I could tell she had been crying for the last half-hour or so.

"Sit tight, guys..." I said, "...we're home."

**Act 2: The Thing About Chao Is...**

When we landed, the first two to get out were Knuckles and Rouge. They ran immediately up to Knuckles's bedroom on the second floor - we had no idea if they were going up there for their normal reason or for something different - they did confess their love to each other, after all. Well, it's not like that was the first time they had done it, but that was the first time they really meant it.

Meanwhile, Amy went into the living room to rest, and Cream went straight to her room. I decided to get a drink and then run some quick tests on Sonic's body, just to see if it was the spike that killed him or that substance that Knuckles described. If it was the substance, then that proves that Sonic had some sort of connection with the Emeralds as well, which would be a very interesting discovery into what causes his Super form.

I went to get a Chaos Lime soda (the most popular soda on the market at the time), and instead of going straight to the lab, I sat in the living room with Amy, who had turned on the TV.

"Hey Tails!" She said, with her normal smile on her face. That was strange to see, how she could be happy like that at a time like this.

"Amy - I thought you were going to sleep?"

"Turns out I'm not as tired as I thought." Her face suddenly went from happy to something... different. It wasn't sad necessarily, but it definately wasn't happy either. "I can't take my mind off of..."

"Sonic?"

"Yeah... Sonic."

I sighed. "I'm sure he's okay, Amy. I've done research into the subject, and it turns out there is a soul in us all, and when you die, you lose _something_ - through recent experiments, it turns out that when you die, you lose about 3/4 of a pound besides the waste you let out of your body. That can only be -"

"A soul?" She interrupted.

"Yeah. So wherever it is - his soul's out there somewhere, and science can prove that. I'm sure his soul is in a place that it belongs, and I'm sure he's watching us if he can."

"That's Sonic for you."

"Yeah, really."

She sighed, very deeply. "It's just - I don't know what I'm going to do about the you-know-what."

I opened my mouth to ask, then I realized what she meant. "Yeah... did Sonic want you to -"

"Yes. He was excited, really excited."

"About what, exactly? He could've been excited about something else - you know how Sonic was."

"No - he said the very words."

"So he actually wanted to -"

"Yeah. He was looking forward to being... a dad."

She started to cry softly, trying to hold it in. And then...

Another voice lit up the room.

"Amy..."

We both looked up, startled. "Sonic!"

Then I felt a stab of energy. Something was definately in the room with us, and whatever it was, it wanted to let us know it was there.

"Did you feel that Tails?"

"Yeah!"

"Do you think it's -"

"Well, it's very probable that it is, Amy - I told you... his soul's out there, and by out there I mean it could be in here as well."

"Oh God... he's a ghost?"

"Not exactly - the theory I subscribe to states that souls transcend dimensions, meaning he's still alive in another plane of existance."

"Wait, does that mean we could bring him back?"

My eyes illuminated at this. I had never thought of this. It was so logical...

"It would require the Master Emerald, Amy. I know that my ancestors did it once or twice."

Knuckles stood at the top of the stairs.

"Have you been eaves dropping?"

"Yes, Amy - but only because I felt a presence as well. That was the strongest energy I've felt since the release of Chaos."

Rouge came to Knuckles's side.

"I felt it too."

"So we all felt something then?" Amy asked.

"Yeah, I guess." Rouge replied.

Knuckles and Rouge came down into the living room, and the three of them began discussing what they had felt.

I, however, was ignoring them. My attention was placed on something else.

I heard crying from upstairs. Unmistakably, it was...

"I'll be right back, I'm going to get something from upstairs."

"Alright, Tails." Amy said.

I went over to Cream's room. As I was about to knock, I heard her talking to herself, and though it's against my policy to eavesdrop normally, I felt that it was appropriate. I stood and listened.

"He... was all I had left... the others don't care about me like he did. They're ignoring me again... they always do." She sniffed, and continued, "I can't believe... my dad leaves us, my mom is murdered, and my only real friend washed away by a gust of air..."

"And he's down there... God what I wouldn't do to be with him now. He ignored me like the others, sure, but... he was different. He is different... I don't even have something or someone to hold onto anymore..."

She began bawling, and I figured this was my cue. Whoever she meant, I prayed that she meant me, and I went to knock on the door, when she continued.

"Cheese wasn't there for me either! He was just some... stupid... PET!" And I sware to God, something inside me pushed my hand forward, and I knocked her door by some sort of hidden instinct.

"Cream... are you..."

"Tails... ?"

"Y-yeah..."

"Y-you..."

She was having a hard time talking to me over her crying, so I took that as my cue to come in. Luckilly, instict won again, and she gestured me to sit down on her bed, where she had been balled next to a box of tissues.

"Cream... that's the thing about Chao... they don't really have emotions. They can comfort you, sure, but not in that sense of the word... you know what I mean?"

"Y-yeah..."

"What happened anyway?"

"Ch-cheese got..."

"He got carried away by a gust of wind, I heard you say?"

"Y-yeah... I tried to catch him, but..."

I saw her face, and I put my shoulder around her back, and put on the most comforting face I could.

"Cream, d-don't cry... it'll be alright, don't worry about it... I'm sure he's okay... he was loyal. He'll come back, I'm sure of it."

She looked up at me, and tried to smile, but she just couldn't, and I could understand why not.

"Tails..." She sniffed again. "I don't know what to do..."

She started to cry again, and she put her head into my chest. As she pressed onto me, I felt something... something good, yet different.

I loved her. No longer a crush... I loved her. More than anything now... I had been questioning myself and my feelings for months now, but I knew... I loved her, and that was that.

Her tears began to fall on my fur. I instinctively embraced her, although I didn't look at her. I just kept my eyes staring at the wall.

"I have no one left! I... !"

"Cream..."

"My dad abandoned me! My mom was killed! And the only thing left, my stupid, ignorant pet, left me without trying to save himself!"

"Cream, don't..."

"Whatever deity has decided to play with my life thus far has gone over the edge! I can understand my dad, but getting rid of the only 2 people that cared about me in one fell swoop?"

She tried to continue yelling, but she soon realized that the sadness in her had gotten the best of her, and she began to bawl into my chest, sobbing my name.

"Why did Cheese have to..."

"Cream... the thing about chao is that... they're naive. They're stubborn. They'll do anything to please their owners, even if that means faking emotion."

She sniffed, and looked up at me. I looked down at her, unwillingly - I became caught in her eyes again.

"So you're saying Cheese didn't care either?"

"No... I'm saying that... he loved you as an owner, not loved you in the conventional sense..."

_Say it, Prower..._

"The..."

_Just say it... one step closer... just like Sonic told you. All you have to do is tell her...  
_  
"The sense you deserve."

She was caught off guard by this.

"What do you mean... Tails?"

I sighed. I quickly noticed I was still embracing her, and that she, in turn, had embraced me as well.

"You keep bawling that no one cares about you Cream, that you're ignored by everyone except your mom and Cheese, well get this - you're wrong."

"What, are you saying those three care about me?"

"No, in fact, you're right, they do ignore you, but when you say those three, you're ignoring someone else."

"Who? Sonic? Shadow? The Chaotix?" She was angry, and her anger was turning into arrogance, and I found myself getting angry at her for it.

"NO, DAMN IT!"

"THEN WHO!"

"MILES K. PROWER, THAT'S WHO!"

Again, caught off guard.

"Wh... what did you say?"

I realized that I had taken on a different tone. I had to repremend.

I had to tell her the truth.

"Cream, if it isn't obvious enough now... it's me. I care about you."

"In what sense of the word, the conventional sense or the Chao sense? Don't play with me, _Miles_ - I don't need that right now, and it won't really help if you make up fake emotions just to make me feel beter."

"No, Cream... I..."

"What? Tails, if you're going to toy with me, I want you out of my room."

"No... Cream..."

She gasped slightly. My voice had taken on a more tender tone...

"Tails... have I been yelling at you?"

"Yes."

"I-I'm sorry... God... what was I..."

"Don't worry about it..."

"So you really do care about me?"

"Yes... Cream..."

"Tails?

"I..."

"Yes?"

"Cream... I l..."

"Tails?"

"I..."

_SAY IT, PROWER!_

"I love you."

She looked up into my eyes. All the tears, the sadness, gone from her face.

"What took you so long?"

She nestled her head back into my chest, and we went in for another embrace. I looked down at her forehead, and kissed her lightly. It felt great.

She then looked back up at me. We continued embracing, stronger than before.

"I love you too."

"I know..."

And I once again followed my instincts.

**Amy's POV**

Knuckles, Rouge, and I were talking for a very long while, but not soon after we were finished did I realize that Tails was still missing, and Cream was absent as well. I decided to go upstairs to look for them.

I was walking up the steps when I realized that he would be in his room, if anywhere, so I went on the deck and went into his room in the uppers of the garage. No one there. So I went back in, and began searching the rooms. No one. There was one final door, to the right, next to the stairs. Cream's room.

I went to open it, and when I did, I saw the rabbit who owned the room, as well as an orange foxboy who didn't, but had, from what they were doing, every right to be in that room.

I was about to say something, but I stayed quiet as Tails had done for Sonic and I when he walked in on usWhen they finally finished, I decided to say something else.

"About time, Tails."

They both looked at me, still hugging, and blushed deep red.

Cream looked up at Tails.

"Yeah, really." She giggled, and the came in for a closer embrace.

"I'll leave you two alone... come downstairs when you're ready."

They nodded, and I went back downstairs.

"So, where are they?" Rouge asked.

"Yeah, really, Tails said he'd take care of dinner," Knuckles said.

I was about to say something, but I couldn't help but laugh as I tried to say it.

"What's so funny?" Knuckles asked.

"What, Amy, did you walk in on them making out or something?" Rouge asked.

I gasped a bit, and looked at Rouge, trying to hold in further laughter.

Their eyes widened, and they looked at me, then at each other.

Then we all burst out in laughter.

**-End Chapter-**

Well, I liked that one a lot. Rather fun to write, too. I don't know what I'm calling next chapter, or what I'm doing with it. I'll probably get to Soleanna, but I may do something completely different. There's only one way you'll know for sure, and that's if you review. I send little previews to my reviewers when they do, and though sometimes I give them tentative details that change, you'll always get a little spoiler for reviewing, as well as answers to any questions, responses to comments, etc. Plus, reviewing only makes me write faster and better, so keep that in mind!

Well, the next chapter will be up hopefully as speedy as this one was, especially considering I'm getting my laptop tomorrow. Until then, see you, and happy reading - and hopefully reviewing!

Oh, and if you're wondering why his middle initial is K - it's an inside joke. If you review and you happen to want to know what it means, I'll give you the answer. Another thing - that entire part where Cream and Tails screamed at one another - it was out of tension. Neither of them, especially Cream, had any idea what they were saying any longer. Also, I'd like to thank Hideki Naganuma once again - if it weren't for the song "Risin' Me Up" from the Sonic Rush soundtrack, this chapter wouldn't have been as good.


	7. The Second Attack

Well, here we go again. This round, I'm doing another 2 act deal. Act 1 will serve as a continuation to last chapter, and a spiritual successor to the fluff moment in chapter 2, more or less. The second half? Let's just say something HUGE occurs. Get ready for that.

The second attack begins NOW! Brace yourselves!

I don't own Sonic - is this needed anymore?

* * *

**Golden Prevalence**

**Chapter 7: The Second Attack**

**Act I: Separate From Reality**

**_"I love you too."_**

**_"I know."_**

Nothing mattered from then on - only her. It had been about an hour, but we had barely moved. I felt her head nestled in my chest, her slow breaths caressing my fur. It was... utterly amazing. She was so beautiful... so kind, so gentle... I couldn't take my mind off of her anymore. I had no thoughts - she had become them.

"Cream?"

She had fallen asleep in my arms. I rubbed her head softly, the fur in her ears conforming to my hand's movement. The situation invoked what I can only describe as the most remarkable feeling I'll ever hope to experience. I couldn't help but smiling a bit, and I kissed her softly on her forehead. She dug her head further in my chest, her legs sprawled along her bed, mine crossed to support her.

I heard them talking downstairs... I heard Amy crying... I wanted to go down there to see what was wrong...

But Cream was more important.

I had talked to Sonic about the entire thing, and he just told me to do what I thought was right, so I did before, and I continued to do so at that time...

I love her.

But I wanted to move. I moved slowly, letting her head drop with the general movement of my hand. And finally, she was resting on her pillow. However, of course, as I was walking out of her room...

"Tails?"

She woke up. I looked back and she looked at me with a sort of longing in her eyes.

"Hmm?"

"W... was I asleep?"

I smiled. "Yeah, you fell asleep on my chest."

She turned a bright red. "Oh! Uh... sorry Tails!"

"Heh heh! It's okay Cream... I would've stayed, but I'm getting pretty tired..."

"Oh..." she frowned, "but now I can't sleep..." She then looked up at me and flashed her eyes... she was using herself against me... and God did it work.

"Aw... alright, I'll stay."

She grinned, and I sat down on her bed again. She embraced me and kissed me on the cheek, and I kissed her back.

"I love you, Tails."

"I love you too, Cream."

She laid back on her pillow and slowly but surely drifted on to sleep. Meanwhile, I had promised her I would stay in her room for the night... so I couldn't sleep.

I presumed. I found myself unable to stay awake... so I fell onto the other side of her pillow, and slept next to her.

I woke up later in the night to find I had put my arm around her and she had come much closer against me, but I ignored it and went back to sleep.

**Act 2: The Gate**

**  
**_South Island was long ago corporatized by humans who found the island to be only inhabited by animals. The result was the United Federations, a country that has become the world's superpower. In it, there are no real states, but Federal Zones such as Station County, Central County, and the newest county, the County of Worlds, as named by its figurehead "princess," Elise. The people of the County of Worlds follow a different life then those in the more corporate Station and Central counties. They believe in old customs and try to keep their land as pristine as Westside Island. Each County has its own semi-capital, Station County's being Station Square, Central County's being Central City, and Worlds' being Soleanna, the "City of Water."_

_May I suggest attacking Central County next, Master Robotnik? Central City is the capital of the UF, after all._

**Eggman, Third Person POV.**

"No, GOPHEr, not just yet - that _is_ also GUN headquarters, after all. Thank you for the information lookup, however."

"Yes, Master Robotnik."

"In fact, for your cooperation, I have a reward!"

"Master?"

"I'm uploading an AI upgrade into the system - you will become one of my most advanced AI constructs, besides maybe Metal Sonic, of course."

"Download system active."

"Good GOPHEr! Now then, open wide."

A slot on the Mark II's dashboard opened, and Eggman inserted what looked like an SD card into the slot.

"GOPHEr... upgrading... voice profile upgraded... core system upgraded... AI system upgraded..."

Within 30 seconds, the upgrade was complete. A normal male's voice came out of the speaker.

"Thank you for the upgrade, Master Robotnik."

"My pleasure, GOPHEr - now I have someone to discuss my conquests with."

"A shame you can no longer rub it in the hedgehog's face, Master."

"Yes, well, the price of victory, I suppose."

The doctor looked up. The sunset in Soleanna was invert. It was dawn, yet looked like a morning's twilight. The windshield of the beast was like its eyes. It truly looked like what it was named.

"When are we activating the extent of Project VENOM, Master?"

"Tomorrow, I suppose - after I take down the County of Worlds, I think I'm going to unleash VENOM's full power on the Capital County. GUN has much more strength now then they used to."

"Yes, Master, completely logical. After you unleashed Project Chaos, GUN was formed, correct?"

"Yes, precisely."

"So logically they strengthened themselves after you unleashed the Flames of Disaster?"

"Correct. Well, I'm surprised they took notice - to this day, the County of Worlds considers themselves to still be a territory of the United Federations and not a Federal Zone."

"That explains the figurehead Princess Elise."

"Precisely! You see, I tried to get the government on my side by ridding them of the figurehead so they could truly take control in the County of Worlds, and for a while, they were on my side."

"Explaining their robots and not your badniks attacking the hedgehog, am I correct?"

"That upgrade has done you a world of good, GOPHEr."

"Yes. My logic board was incredibly incapable before you upgraded it, Master."

The doctor smirked at his brilliant creation. Everything was going uphill for him after his defeat at Soleanna 7 years ago. He looked upon Soleanna now - how beautiful it was. 7 years since they had last encountered him.

No one knew what he was planning. He had been charging the ship overnight since he issued the alert.

And yet, even so, the government had gathered the biggest army it was able to and put them all into the eastern Kingdom Valley.

He had his sights aimed at the west, the area he called Crisis City. The economic center of the County of Worlds, and the place where the government had ordered the citizens to evacuate to.

Yes, he was going to kill a lot of people today. The military was on high alert, but they thought he was attacking Kingdom Valley, not the city. His meticulous planning going swimmingly. He had checked his cameras - everything was in place.

Except for him.

_"Doctor, it would seem that the gate has been unlocked."_

_"NOT YET!"_

_"It was only a matter of time, Eggman."_

_Sanity? What was sanity? Did sanity exist anymore? What was his classification? What has his world turned into? What has he turned into? Images. Images from his past. Murder. He wanted that taste in his mouth..._

_One. More. Time._

_One. More. Time._

_What was beyond the gate? **What was beyond the gate? W.h.a.t.w.a.s.b.e...y.o.n.d... the...ga.te...?**_

_**Was there even a gate? Was there anything?**_

_**ONE MORE TIME. YOU KNOW YOU WANT...**_

_**No... I am more than that...**_

_**NO...**_

_**"You know, Robotnik... there is nothing you can do anymore. Unless you find a personal requiem, like I have..."**_

The GOPHEr saw his master. The GOPHEr felt his pain. Was there a gate? Had he reached it?

The doctor, shaking furiously around the cockpit, tears falling from his eyes, shook his hands and balled them into fists, and screamed loud into the air, screamed at nothing...

**"STRIKE NOW! STRIKE SO I CAN SEE!"**

Nothing.

**"VENOM! STRIKE! MAKE THE STRIKE, DAMN YOU! SCORPION!"**

He screamed, louder than he ever had, pounding his rock-like appendages down onto the control panel. And the SCORPION... it leaped. It powerfully vaulted its gigantic hull into the air, lunging toward Crisis City.

But then... a video transmission appeared on screen. Robotnik didn't pay attention to any of this. The SCORPION crashed onto the city, killing several people upon landing, already making its mark. The crash echoed throughout the County of Worlds.

"Dr. Robotnik... it has been a long time."

**"YOU! WHY HAVE YOU -"**

The figure on the screen looked menacingly at his once master, once partner. His now-robotic eye zoomed in on the mass of red that was now Eggman.

"Hmph. I figured you, of all people, should know. We have base in the Jungle, you know."

"Yes, but my matters are my own."

"You threaten to destroy the world this time, Robotnik! You killed the hedgehog! It's not like the kitsune will be held back!"

**"HE'LL BE TAKEN CARE OF."**

"Yes, well... take care of your business, _Eggman. _We'll take care of the kitsune as was agreed 12 years ago on Westside."

**"NO! THE KITSUNE IS MY BOTHER! YOU ARE NOTHING - YOUR ARMY IS NOTHING!"**

"Doctor, I let you test your damn machines on me to prove my loyalty, and now you're throwing me and one of the world's most powerful armies out the door. If you do not let me do what I will with the kitsune... all of Cocoa will be Hellbent on your total annihilation."

**"I AM GOD!"**

"There is no God, Robotnik."

**"KUKKU!"**

The SCORPION latched its claws onto the two of the Four Ecos - an economic center spanning 4 of the tallest skyscrapers in the world, let alone Crisis City. It climbed up and down them, spewing its venom across the streets. The government began to pack in.

**"THERE IS NO GOD, ROBOTNIK. THERE IS NO GATE!"**

**"KUKKU!"**

**"LISTEN TO ME, YOU GOD DAMNED FOOL! I AM NOT ONE OF YOUR BADNIKS! THE BATTLE KUKKU ARMY CAN ASSIST YOU ONCE AGAIN, IF YOU JUST STOP DELUDING YOURSELF! YOU ARE NOT GOD!"**

**"I AM GOD! I AM GOD! BOW DOWN TO ME, FOR I AM GOD!"**

**"ROBOTNIK!"**

The menacing looking bird snapped his frail wings and a powerful machine behind him took flight.

**"DO YOU WANT WAR, ROBOTNIK? IS THIS WHAT YOU'RE COMING TO?"**

Robotnik's hand slammed onto a button. The transmission ended, and Robotnik started another.

"Hell- DOCTOR EGGMAN!"

"Hello again, Mr. President. I am here not to threaten you, but to inform you of the identity of the recent attackers."

"What?"

"Yes Mr. President. It seems the SCORPIONs are being controlled by the Battle Kukku Army."

"You mean the group of renegades who took over Cocoa Island 13 years ago?"

"The very same."

The President furrowed his brow.

"That could cause a problem. Their presence in the jungle in the County of Worlds and on Cocoa Island matches the strength of my GUN army."

"Exactly, which is why I think we should stop them now. I had intercepted a transmission which stated that they would be attacking Kingdom Valley, so I requested an alert in that area."

"Which is why our civilians are dying in Crisis City right now, correct?"

"I'm sorry, Mr. President - everyone makes mistakes."

"Yes, but those are the kind of mistakes no one can afford, Eggman!"

"It's not like the government is perfect either, Mr. President."

"Hmm - quite. Everyone makes mistakes!"

"Yes. Heh heh."

"Well then... why should I trust you?"

"I've been neutral for the last 7 years."

"But the reports say that the machine has your name all over it."

"You think the Battle Kukku would tell you they did something like this? They forged my logo, and they named the beast the Egg SCORPION. That proves nothing."

"Point indeed. So... what next?"

"Knowing the dictator personally, I'd say round up an attack upon the jungle, now, before they get a chance to launch another one."

"Right."

The president pushed a button on the table beneath him.

"General - get all the available forces we have and send them to the jungle in Worlds. We found our culprit."

"YES SIR, MR. PRESIDENT, SIR!"

"Robotnik - what about Cocoa?"

"Once the attack on Crisis stops, extract the soldiers from Soleanna and send them to Cocoa. Oh, and again, I am sorry for causing the death of those citizens in Crisis - they must have detected the interference."

"I understand... it's not like..."

"It hasn't happened before? Oh yes, definitely. But let's forget about that now. I shall help your efforts on the Kukku from the sidelines."

"Right... what do your ships look like nowadays?"

The doctor thought back.

"Birds! Yes, this year's theme is birds!"

"Just like the Project Chaos days, Eggman?"

"Yes! Precisely the feeling I was going for!"

"What is the color scheme I can use as an identifier then?"

He thought back to the video transmission.

"Green and black, sometimes blue and yellow, or all those colors with red!"

"Oh, so Mexican themed?"

"Kind of."

"Very well then! I'll tell the GUN Commander the specifications of the ships."

"Right. They are inspired by Kukku's old ships, ironically enough."

"Oh are they now? Right then! And the Kukku will be in the SCORPIONs, I suppose?"

"As far as I presume."

"Agreed. I'll see you on the battleground."

"Indeed."

"However- this is only a temporary truce. You are still considered a neutral threat."

"I understand completely. I'm surprised you're even considering what I say as fact."

"We don't have much time. We have to go with whatever we can, and we do know that Kukku has been planning another resistance for some time now. We should have considered this earlier."

"Quite."

"Thank you, Eggman."

"My pleasure."

He pressed the button on the dashboard. Things couldn't be going any better. He had even regained himself.

"SCORPION, finish Crisis off. GOPHEr..."

"Yes?"

"I'm sorry about that. I want you to prep Mark III."

"Would you like me to recolor one of them to help with the charade you've pulled over the government?"

"Yes! Recolor Mark I and have that one ready for me as well! I'll use that as my traveling one! Make sure it's in Eggmobile form for me!"

"Of course, Master Robotnik. You may have gone a little off board there, however, your brilliance never sceses to amaze - that was one of the most brilliant moves you've ever made."

"Hmm - if Kukku wants to threaten me, let him - I'll just take care of him and the government in one fell swoop."

"Indeed, Master."

He looked out the window to see his progress, and mused to himself...

_The City of Water..._

_Now the City of Flame._

**-END CHAPTER-**

* * *

Well... whew. That was a quick one, wasn't it? 4 days only - that's it. Shortest wait ever, right? Yeah, quick wait. And what's awesome about this one is that its less than 3000 words long! Right on! But I've got a lot more ground to cover yet - story's nowhere near over.

As for the chapter itself... God that was fun to write. I can't wait until you see what Eggman turns out to be at the end.

As for next chapter... review and you'll know more... 2x more Tails in it than the other chapters! REVIEW PLEASE, I WORK REALLY HARD FOR YOU READERS! XD

**  
**


End file.
